I still think... she was robbed of gold 🏅 Albertville!!! She landed triple axel... and don't tell Yamaguchi beat her on artistic talent.. that's bull!! Yamaguchi can't land triple axel... judges have to give credit where it is presented. Yamaguchi skated not to lose.. no guts!! Ito.. has courage and athletic artistry... it's proven...
I think her leg wrap is what makes her jumps better and more exciting. It goes against the tight-legged convention, but it is harder. It requires more height and force to rotate 3.5 revolutions in that position. It is so much easier to rotate when your legs are tight together but not as exciting to watch. Midori's jumps are more exciting to watch because the cross-legged position creates more movement visually while in the air
@@baritonebynight - Tonya's were wild, tilted, off axis, very inconsistent. She only landed them in competition in 1991. Scott Hamilton rated Tonya at the 92 Albertville Olympics as the 2nd best technical skater in the world behind Midori. Midori's 3A to today (Nov 10 18) is still unmatched.
@@lsrasr158 I think Tonya had the best triple lutz and triple flip in the world though, including Midori. Especialy the triple flip since Midori often got too close to the boards on hers, not just her, and as a result had an unsteady or marred landing. Midori has a way better triple axel and is a better jumper overall though.
@@sargeminus1727 you may be right at least of Tonya in 1991. Midori though did an amazing triple lutz at the beginning of her 1988 Calgary olympics LP which all 3 american commentators marveled at. Watch Midori's 1988 calgary LP. Pre triple axel but her athleticism was incredible. Her triple lutz at the 1990 world's in Halifax was beautiful but close to the boards. Scott Hamilton commented on how close to the boards she was and that Midori had complained that the north american rinks were smaller than those in asia and europe and were causing her problems with her jumps as she was running out of real estate when doing them. Her 1989 world's win she did not have the same problem as the rink in Paris was bigger. You are right about Midori's triple axel and her jumping ability. I have never seen anyone in the ladies event close to her, even today. The men back in her day were relieved they did not have to skate against her. Search youtube "tonya midori". you will see a TV interview Tonya did watching Midori skate at the lalique tournament a few months before the albertville olympics. Tonya comments on Midori's skating, compares both of them, and explains why she did not compete at the tourney against Midori and Kristi.
@@izzykiechel1712 - she retired as an amateur right after albertville olympics. she did not compete in the 92 Worlds. My guess is 2 reasons. one, she probably wanted to start earning money since she lived full time with her coach and two, she probably did not want to go thru the media circus that enveloped her at the albertville olympics. I saw an interview Kristie gave and when she was asked why she did not compete in 94 in lilihammer she said she did want to go thru the media circus that would have followed her every move. A direct reference to what Midori went thru in 92.
@@lsrasr158 I always thought kristi chose not to come back since she was Harding and her friends club Kerrigan, and knew the same would probably happen to her if she went to the Games, especialy since Harding was allowed to go.
@@sargeminus1727 Kristie in the interview never made any reference to the Tonya Nancy incident in her decision not to skate in LIlihammer in 94. I am sure Kristie wanted to start earning money as well and figure skating was at its peak around this time. The US economy was not doing so well and Kristie was not getting the endorsement deals that usually come with winning an olympic gold medal. Maybe her japanese heritage affected her getting endorsement deals from US corporations as well. Don't know. In any respect Kristie turned pro and she went head to head wth Midori for the 1993 pro figure skating championship which Midori won.
@@lsrasr158 Yeah you are probably right. Do you think if Kristi had chosen to compete at Lillehammer after the Nationals in Detroit which i had kept hearing before the Nationals in Detroit might happen, they could name her to team without competing at Nationals? That was the era they gave athletes medical byes, and they named Kerrigan to the team without competing so I guess it is possible. The difference is she wouldnt have been injured, and simply chose to forgo Nationals which is entirely different, I dont know how they would handle that. And Kristi must have assumed she could simply be given a spot if she simply chose to compete at the Games, given that there was still talk in the media of her choosing to compete at the Games around the time of Nationals when it was known she wouldnt be competing there. Then again that may have been the stupid and often false media, and not Kristi herself.
@Chalkare With regard to the Axel jump, that goes for every lady these days. They just don't seem to attack the jump with speed and power as they used to in the 80s and 90s, whether it's a double or triple Axel. The worst culprit being Caroline Zhang.
I never saw this game till now but she looks so grown up and became a beautiful lady in short hair in this game. sparkling *** Triple A is OMG just perfect ..... even better than the one at Olympic . She is a legend skater whom no one will be able to take over forever ! Hope you are doing well now Midori xxx
god i dont know why they think her cross legged technique is bad.... i think its better than straight legged because 1) it looks more dynamic in the air and 2) it's freaking harder!!! don't they realize that? then why are they penalizing something that is harder to do? and who said it's not proper form? the only reason why they say it's proper form is because back when people were not as athletic, the only way they could rotate 3 times in the air is to be more aerodynamic and straighten their legs in the air. This de facto mentality is not right.
it's easier to jump with a wrap...it means you are not in full alignment with your axis. to achieve the air position of say sasha cohen is the closest thing to technical perfection. but there are other facets to a jump aside from air position, like entrance, height, distance, landing, flow out, etc. so, despite the wrap, Ito's triple axle was still amazing. Also, not all her jumps had wraps, like her triple toe loop and salchow. I bet if she didn't wrap her triple axel, she could've landed a quad axel because the wrap actually dragged her rate of rotation... that famous jump of hers was truly more a testament to her talent and willpower than to the imperfect technique taught to her. back then, the understanding of physics was just not as advanced as it is today in the skating world.
+Masaki Hirama you are so right. Her wrap is very obvious on the salchow, lutz, and loop, which I believe with her gifted high twitch muscles and timing, tends to have too much height and power for her and thus the risk for overrotating - after all if you jump too high you can't simply adjust your rotation speed to slow down and compensate for the height. So yes, I truly believe that she uses the high leg wrap as a way to prevent her from over-rotating her jumps, similar to how any other skater would slightly leg wrap a double jump in a triple-double jump combination to avoid over-rotating.
+Tress Braga I think it's a testament to Midori and her coach's intuitive knowledge of physics, as they used the wrap - or rather her coach saw Midori by instinct would sometimes wrap her leg on certain jumps and instead of correcting it actually saw it as a technique and allowed it. It is not harder to jump with tight legs. On the contrary it is easier and to rotate with tight legs is our body's natural inclination to move towards. So this is my complaint with these figure skating rules. They simply downgraded something that could have been seen as a technique. They labeled it as incorrect position when in fact the reality was simply that its counterpart - tight leg rotation - is not a choice that skaters consciously make to achieve perfect technique. Rather it is a compensatory reaction of our body to our intent to complete a lot of rotations mid-air. See the difference? If you compare a layback spin's lazy technique of the lazy leg, it is clear that it's inferior to high leg
+Masaki Hirama I can see where you're coming from in trying to explain how the wrap would basically compensate for the knee to hip area to slow down to allow the upper body to catch up and ultimately allow for the 3 parts' synchronized rotation. However this would fail to explain the men's side. Why do they still jump with tighter legs even though there could be the same issues as Midori's ( after all she's always being compared with male jumpers ). Secondly , it doesn't explain Midori's leg wrap during her later years (1993-96) when she was noticeably thinner than her old self?
This is completely wrong. Tight legs are the easiest to jump with. Midori wraps her leg because she has too much height for tight legs. She does not land with a wrap however. They teach you when you skate (and yes I can skate), single jump open leg, double jump a bit more closed and if you have enough height no need to cross your leg, triple jump, crossed leg at ankle and tight position to facilitate rotation. Sasha Cohen got two inches off the ground, thus the need for the completely tight leg position.
@3Axel1996 true about Caroline, but you can notice she doesnt place high...basicly because of her lack of speed and proper technique on her jumps... (nontheless I love her grace and performing abilities)