Daisuke Takahashi overcame a fall on his opening quadruple jump with a solid free skate to claim the men's figure skating bronze medal at the Vancouver Olympics on Feb. 18.

Takahashi, who was third after the Feb. 16 short program, scored a total of 247.23 points to give Japan its third medal of the games and first ever in the mens event.

"My ranking in the free program (fifth) was lower than I expected so I am not satisfied about that, but I am pleased to get a medal all the same," said Takahashi.

"I put the quad in because I was aiming for the gold medal. My goal at the Olympics was to put the quad in my program," he said.