[12] She remained the only woman ever to perform this feat until January 2018, when junior skater Alexandra Trusova ratified the same jump in competition.

[14] Ando relocated to the United States to train with Carol Heiss Jenkins in preparation for the 2005–06 season which included the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino.

The season began well, when she won the silver medal at the 2005 Cup of Russia, but she finished 4th at the 2005 NHK Trophy and narrowly qualified for the Grand Prix Final, where she placed 4th.

Training with her new coach, Nikolai Morozov, Ando won gold at the 2006 Skate America and silver at the 2006 Trophée Eric Bompard.

She was named one of Vogue Japan's "Women of the Year for 2007"[16] and received six other awards including the "most valuable mention" from the Japanese Olympic Committee.

[14] At Worlds, Ando was 8th after the short program and was forced to withdraw during her free skate due to a leg muscle strain she had been suffering since that morning.

At the Grand Prix Final, Ando stayed on her foot after an attempted 4S in her free skate program, the first time in competition since 2004, though the rotations were not considered enough and the jump was downgraded.

The Japan Skating Federation set, as one of its criteria for choosing the skaters to send to the 2010 Winter Olympics, the highest Japanese medal finisher at the Grand Prix Final.

With this in mind, Ando competed at Rostelecom Cup; she placed third in the short program and won the free skate to win the competition overall.

[20] At this GP Final in Tokyo, Ando placed first in the short program, 0.56 points ahead of second-place finisher Yuna Kim, and second in the free skate.

In August, shortly before the beginning of the season, she changed her training base while abroad from Hackensack, New Jersey, USA, to Daugavpils, Latvia.

[21] At Cup of China, Ando attempted a 3Lz-3L combination in the short program, but the loop was deemed underrotated by the technical panel, and she placed third in this segment.

Ando competed with a back injury at Rostelecom Cup after a collision with Abzal Rakimgaliev, from Kazakhstan, earlier in the week in practice.

At the Four Continents Championships in February, Ando placed first in both the short program and free skating segments to win the competition overall.

[24] She later decided not to compete all season, and in ISU events she appeared only once as an invited skater in the exhibition of the World Team Trophy.

[26] The characteristic choreography by Ando and Tsurutani is to a non-stop sequence of various music assembled into one story scene, similar to a ballet program.

[7] After two years away from competition and five months after giving birth, Ando appeared at the 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy and won the silver medal behind Russian senior debutant Elena Radionova.

Following her seventh-place finish at the 2014 Nationals, Ando announced her retirement from competitive skating and said that she intended to pursue a coaching career.

In 2013, she performed in a live music collaboration with singer Ai to the song "To mama", after giving birth to her daughter Himawari.