Milan ¨C Kaori Sakamoto gave a taste of her stunning form as the figure skating star outclassed her rivals in the team competition ahead of her bid to complete her collection of Olympic medals with gold.

Sakamoto delivered an emotional free skate to Edith Piaf¡¯s ¡°Non, je ne regrette rien¡± to pull Japan ahead of the U.S. in the team event on Sunday, before Ilia Malinin ultimately secured the gold for the Americans.

The 25-year-old from Kobe will retire after the Olympics.

She has won three world titles, an Olympic individual bronze medal, and now two Winter Games team silver medals.

Only a gold is missing from her collection.

¡°Although I did have a few misses here and there, misses with the jumps as well, seeing that I scored No. 1 in the women¡¯s category was a big deal, and I felt really emotional,¡± she told journalists.

¡°Also the fact that Team Japan came up to the top, as well, has been a relief, as well as just a very good feeling.

¡°In my eyes, everybody has done a gold-medal performance, and so it really doesn¡¯t matter what color medal we get.¡±

The women¡¯s competition gets underway on Feb. 17 with the short program and concludes with the free skate two days later.

Among her rivals are two Americans ¡ª world champion Alysa Liu and Amber Glenn ¡ª both of whom Sakamoto outclassed in the short program and free skate, respectively, in the team event.

Ice dancer Masaya Morita said her presence would be sorely missed when she retires.

¡°Kaori is a brilliant skater, and it¡¯s not just about results, she has had so many achievements throughout her career,¡± he said.

¡°She¡¯s great when it comes to building up the atmosphere of Team Japan. She¡¯s always at the center of the team, encouraging everyone.

¡°I don¡¯t want her to retire, but this is a decision that she made, so all we can do is to celebrate her final performance with her.¡±