On 7 February 2022, inside Beijing's Capital Indoor Stadium, Kaori Sakamoto delivered a free skate that would later help lift Japan to an Olympic team silver medal. The podium moment did not arrive that night, but the performance proved pivotal across nearly two years of legal process.
A free skate against a dominant rival
Sakamoto stepped onto the ice as Japan's anchor in the women's segment, with Wakaba Higuchi having already skated the short program. Opposite her stood Kamila Valieva, a Russian skater who had set world records in three straight events that season.
Valieva finished first despite falling on an attempted third quadruple jump. Sakamoto placed second, trailing by a margin of over thirty points behind a score that was later annulled.
From a postponed ceremony to Paris
No medals were handed out in Beijing. Valieva's doping sample became public, and the ceremony was postponed while litigation unfolded. When the scores were finally struck, the United States was awarded gold and Japan's bronze was upgraded to silver.
The Japanese and American teams received their medals at the Jardins du Trocadéro in Paris during the 2024 Summer Olympics. By then, Sakamoto had already added an individual bronze from Beijing 2022, becoming Japan's first Olympic women's singles medalist since 2010.
A podium that shaped a dynasty
The Beijing team marked the first time Sakamoto, Yuma Kagiyama, Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara shared an Olympic podium together. All four returned for the 2026 Milano Cortina Games and claimed team silver again, making Sakamoto a two-time Olympic team event silver medalist.
"I did everything I possibly could and it led to this," she told reporters after her individual bronze. "You just never know what can happen at the Olympics."
The medal arrived late, but it anchored a career that ended with four world titles — a first for any Japanese skater in any discipline.
