Irina Slutskaya
The primary competitors for the bronze medal were Maria Butyrskaya and Irina Slutskaya from Russia, and Chen Lu from China. In the free skating, they all skated well, but had mistakes. The final placements were very close. The 3rd–5th place votes were split unevenly between Chen, Butyrskaya, and Slutskaya. Chen beat Butyrskaya by the tally of 5 judges to 4 and beat Slutskaya 6 judges to 3, giving Chen her second straight bronze medal in the Olympic Games.