Fumie Suguri turned in a safe but solid free skating performance Thursday and claimed fifth place in the women's figure skating competition at the Salt Lake City Olympics.
Suguri, seventh after the short program, opted to play it safe by substituting a double toe loop for the triple she had planned in her first combination of jumps at Salt Lake Ice Center, but then skated out the rest of her four-minute program according to plan.
"I've experienced a lot of uncertainty over the past four years but now all my troubles have taken on a new meaning. Today is a very special day," said Suguri, who had failed to make the national team for the 1998 Nagano Games.
Suguri's fifth place equaled Japan's second best performance in women's figure skating at the Olympics, matching Yuka Sato in 1994 (Lillehammer) and Miwa Fukuhara in 1964 (Innsbruck).
Midori Ito, who also finished fifth at the 1988 Calgary Games, won the silver medal at the 1992 Albertville Olympics for Japan's best-ever showing in the Olympics.
Ito remains the only woman thus far to successfully land the triple axel in a major international competition -- a feat she accomplished at Albertville.
Meanwhile, Yoshie Onda dropped her hands to the ice in her attempt to land a triple axel and settled for 17th.
The Tokai Gakuen University freshman also shortened up on her planned triple flip but followed with a total of six triples as she earned technical scores ranging from 5.1 to 5.6 and finished 14th in the free skate and 17th overall.
"Even though I can maintain my balance in the triple axel, I don't have the confidence to make it," Onda said.