Two-time Japanese Olympian Fumie Suguri announced on Thursday that she will retire after failing to qualify for the national championships.
The 33-year-old competed in the women's figure skating competition at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games and four years later in Turin. Suguri was eighth this month in the Eastern Japan Championships, ruling out of making a fourth straight appearance at the nationals.
"I was unable to advance to the nationals, and I'll be 37 when the next Olympics come around, so I thought this was my time (to leave)," Suguri, a five-time Japan champion and a three-time world championships medalist, told a news conference.
Suguri finished fifth in Salt Lake City and fourth in Turin. In 2003, she became Japan's first ISU Grand Prix Final champion.