She was not only one of the best in women´s competition, she was THE BEST, ever! Such ease in the jumps, incredible rotation, she was incredible! This video is from 1984. Which girl was able to show such jumps with such ease 1984? Nobody! If the figures hadn´t existed in the past, every skater wouldn´t have had any chance to beat her! She would have won nearly all competitions with her incredible smile on her face! One word: Legend!
I said: If figures hadn´t existed in the past as nowadays, then she would have won nearly all competitions very easily, because she is the most talented ice-skaters in history of ice-skating. No one (men and women) had or has her talent. She was inbelievable, the best skater ever! All competitors were afraid of her but they were lucky that figures existed, without figures they would not have any chance! There will be no other skater in future with this extraordinary talent, Midori Ito LEGEND
I mean, it's difficult to say that she would have won easily. most skaters were not doing as many triple jumps as she was because they were spending most of their practice time on figures. if you eliminate figures from competition earlier you would have seen the sport progress much faster like it did in the 90's. remember that it only took a few years for there to be skaters with enough technical content to beat Midori by 1992, and that was only two years after figures were eliminated. She certainly would have been a favorite at each competition she was in, but I wouldn't say she would have easily won. It'd certainly would be nice to have seen that though
Her jumps were SUPER sensational, of course, but I am amazed by how exceptionally deep, strong, agile and steady her edges were. Most “jumping fleas” tend to have a fluffier quality to their skating, which may signal weaker basic skating skills, but that definitely wasn’t the case with Midori. It is a pity compulsory figures held her back during her best years.
@muscleboi4use Well said! The skating world, I suppose, was not ready for someone like Midori back then, and they needed an excuse to keep her below Witt, Chin, Kondrashova, etc. Now I look at her skating almost 30 years later, her edging, speed, spins, and the excitement she brings, etc. etc. are all quite impressive--even by today's standards.
Hello again:) Midori Ito was THE BEST jumper in the history of ice-skating! She was incredibly talented and simply incomparable but was suffering from "Compulsory Figures" as many good skaters before her. Without figures, she would have been on the podium for at least 10 years and great winners would have been struggled! I don´t understand why she didn´t participate in the 1994 Olympics again due to the allowed "come back" of the skaters. Still nowadays no one has her talent! Ito the best!
I SO agree with you StewNWT. Not only a technician with the jumps. Her poise, charm, grace, music choice & presentation skills were always unjustly criticised, imho. She always performed to the best of her ability and, when she didn't skate clean (rare times in 1992, Olympic short, for example) she apologised to her country and her fans!! SO gracious as a competitor. A truly wonderful lady and sportswoman to make Japan and figure skating proud.
She was unusually mature with her techniques at such a young age and then developed them even further as she got older. She's such an exciting contender and I don't think anybody could try to outskate this young lady.
she really was full of crap, not all of the jumps were jammed in the corners and what a stupid comment. a jump well executed is a jump well executed no matter where it is landed.
15? 15! I'm just starting to watch Midoris programs. I am just about speechless. Every other skater seems sluggish and looks like their jumps are 'forced' , Midori seems preprogrammed to jump effortlessly, perfectly and with no limitations.
This program is stunning, so musical. Figure skating hasn't seen anything like this yet as Scott Hamilton predicted at the end of her 1991 LP. The woman commentator makes me laugh when she goes into jealous buzzkill mode at the end and complains about the jumps being in the corners 😂 The other commentators completely ignore her 🤣
What really sets apart Midori’s jumps visually is not only the height of her jumps but the dynamic visual effect created by her high cross leg mid air. Most skaters are taught to be tight in the air as possible, but being in a tight position like that, like Mao Asada, for example, does not create much movement or texture for the viewer. However with Midori’s high cross leg position, you get that exciting movement midair not to mention the “visual satisfaction” that the jump is landed on one foot cleanly (it’s sometimes hard to see if the skater 2-footed the landing with tight legged positions).
Not to mention how high you have to jump to keep your free leg higher when it crosses the landing leg. Skaters are taught to keep their legs tight on triples because it's a necessity to complete the rotation. Not for Midori. Ito delays and slows down her rotation speed because she jumps so high, skates so fast, and covers so much ice while she is in the air. She was unique. Only Boitano had that kind of hang time in the air.
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Unfortunately she was born very early for ice skating; if she was 15 years old nowadays; she could win 3 olympics gold, and all the world titles sure! And for that time period; I believe she could have change his coach for better artistic results, presentation and coreography. I believe if she ever could have just a bit more artistic impression; still she could win much more gold too even for that time period( For example Katarina Witt’s artistic ability was way much impressive than her technical abilities)
I thinks so, too. I am a 53 year old Japanese.I am living in Nagoya city in Japan. Midori also is living in Nagoya. I am very proud of her.She especially was incredible as jumper! No such woman will appear forever even comparing with Mao Asada of Japan.
baritonebynight um no...Tonya was nothing compared to Midori. Tonya only landed her triple Axel in 3 competitions, all in 1991, landing them successfully a total of 4 separate occasions. Compare that to Midori who landed her triple Axel from 1989 - 1996.
Wow! I don't think people realize (even me) how insanely gifted Midori was. She just did 3t/3t, 3f, 3z, 3l, 3s and three 2x. This level of program would have been technically good from 1984 all the way to 1996. Maybe even 1997 but Tara had a 3l/3l at the time, but damN daMN dAMN. Ito was a true gift.
True but Midori would have still outscored Tara with this program because Tara’s double axels and every she does look so juvenile, it looks like a midget trying but failing to dance like an adult
@@quiddy Should have but not neccessarily would have. If the judges cared about Tara's smallish jumps and juvenile look she wouldn't have won all the events she did and the Olympics over a clean MIchele Kwan who had far superior artistry and did 7 triples herself.
@@grantgoffin4774 well the times when Tara won was also when Michelle fell on her jumps and in the Olympics Michelle was visibly hesitant and quite slow with no triple triple combination so it was no stretch of the imagination that Tara won but I think with Midori in the same competition as Tara, Tara’s smallish and juvenile jumps would even be more obvious as it is compared again Midori. so especially if Tara were to go after Midori here ugly double Axel would look like a real mess.
she should have been like a 8 time world champion if not 10, those figures were such a joke. I know some of you appreciate that they teach basic skating skills and edging etc, but all they did was allow judges to hold back superior free skaters such as midori.
LOL she didn't even compete in 8 worlds (she competed in 7 exactly). And bombed badly at the 91 worlds mainly due to injuries where there were no figures. Still I see your point.
@jayawr That's an interesting perspective! It is so true, though... Hamilton never had a 3L, his 3F was inconsistent, and he didn't spin quite as well (besides the scratch spin, for which he was known). Although he was a great skater, Midori would have been right up there with or above him...
