Yoshiko Ōta was active during the 1990s and early 2000s. At the beginning of 1997 she contested her first skeleton World Cup race in La Plagne and finished seventh as well as in her second race in December that year. At the beginning of the career it was immediately the best results in the top racing series. Until 1999 she regularly took part in the World Cup and, apart from a 16th place in 1999 in Igls, she was always ranked among the top 15. In the overall ranking, she always ranked among the top 20th between 1996/97 and 1999/2000 eleven in the 1997/98 season . Her last international race Ōta contested in Calgary 2001 as part of the Skeleton America's Cup . The Japanese was nationally runner-up behind Mikiko Yoshioka in 1999 , and she won bronze medals in 1998 and 2000.