Yoko Kondo

is a Japanese ice hockey player, and is considered one of her country's best defenseman. She is the only player to qualify for both the 1998 and 2014 Winter Olympics. Kondo was the oldest player on the 2014 team, for which she switched to the forward position.

Biography Yoko Kondo was born on February 13, 1979, in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture. She began playing ice hockey at age six in Aomori, largely because her older brother played the game and she wanted to follow him. She began playing ice hockey professionally in 1995, and qualified for Japan's first Olympic women's ice hockey team during the 1998 Winter Olympics. Kondo felt she personally lacked physical strength to compete with foreign players, and that the team was not playing at a level capable of winning due to the lack of clear goals and a consistent training program. She believed if the team continued to improve, they could eventually qualify for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Kondo participated in four Division I International Ice Hockey Federation world championship tournaments between 2001 and 2013, with Japan placing second in 2001 and 2005, first in 2007, and fourth in 2013. In contrast to 1998, Kondo felt the team was better prepared to compete and had a clear strategy to win.