1987 NHK Trophy-Remembering Midori Ito | Golden Skate

1987 NHK Trophy-Remembering Midori Ito

ChiSk8Fan

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 7, 2004
I have just received a video tape of the 1987 NHK Trophy, 17 years ago. In this competition, the Ladies field included Katarina Witt, Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan (both Tonya an Nancy in their first International assignments) and Midori Ito. The Men's event included Paul Wylie and Christopher Bowman. Here is a list of the elements they completed (just jumps and comments about spins, transitions, footwork and original moves). It seems that Midori Ito would still be a contender for Gold medals at any current events, especially with the new CoP!

Midori: 3 lutz (huge!), 3 flip (huge!), 3 loop out of spread eagle, 2axel-half loop-3 salcow combo, 3 toe-3 toe at the 3 minute mark, 3 salcow, 2 falling leaf jumps into 2 axel. She also did 2 double jumps with arm variations, fast spins with multiple changes of positions and feet; brackets, choctaws and fast footwork. She was fast with great ice coverage.

Tonya: 3 lutz, 3 toe (huge), 3 loop-2 toe, 3 flip at the 3:30 mark, 3 salcow, 3 toe-2toe. Fast spins, especially her combo spin at the end; great Ina Bauer. Great speed and fair ice coverage. Nice presentation.

Nancy: Open axel, 2toe-3toe combo, 3 salcow (fall splatttttt), 2 flip-2toe, 3 toe, 2 double axels. Nice line, decent flow, her speed was much slower than the others.

Katarina: Carmen---3 toe-2toe, 3 salcow, 2 axel, 3 toe, 2loop-2toe, 2salcow into 2 flip, 2 axel. Decent spins (fast) with little or no variations and lots of posing.

Katarina was held up in the technical marks---all 5.7's except for one 5.5 and all 5.8s and 5.9s for presentation. Midori was given 5.7s, 5.8s and two 5.9s for technique and 5.5s to one 5.8 for presentation and she was second. Tonya was 3rd, and Nancy was 5th with 5.0 - 5.4s.

Midori was awesome!!!! It seems that under CoP, her programs would still rank her extremely highly, enough to challenge anyone today! Even without her 3 axel, she was one of the best ever.

Does anyone else remember her as fondly as I do?
 

IDLERACER

Medalist
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Substitute Katarina Witt with Kristie Yamaguchi, and you have the principal cast of the olympics, five years later. I assume that Yama was part of this competition as Rudy Galindo's better half.
 

OwenEvans

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 10, 2004
Does anyone else remember her as fondly as I do?

I am with you on this ChiSk8Fan! Midori rocked the house just about every time she took to the ice. The prog you describe is the same (jump wise) she presented at Calgary and she blew the roof off the Saddledome the night of her FS. Amazing to think that this program would still probably put Midori on the podium 17 years later!!

I still think the "golden age" for ladies was from 88-92'ish.....Midori, Kristi, Tonya, Nancy, Surya all had 3x3 combos in their programs and all were trying for 6/7 triple programs. Midori had the 3A as did Tonya (well, once or twice). Can you imagine the scene at 92O if Kristi and Midori had skated their FS as planned? 7 triples including 3Lz-3T from Kristi and 5 from Midori (including 3Lz-3T) as well as 3A-2T and a second 3A - it would have been amazing to see. Actually, even with the mistakes, it was still great to see Kristi's 3x3 and Midori's 3A and has anyone else yet managed to land either in an Olympic freeskate?

In addition to the jumps, all of these ladies just oozed quality - fantastic edges, great flow and their programs were packed with MTF and had great footwork.

Those were exciting times for ladies skating and IMO, Midori Ito was the most exciting performer of those times.....
 

Vash01

Medalist
Joined
Jul 31, 2003
ChiSk8Fan said:
I have just received a video tape of the 1987 NHK Trophy, 17 years ago. In this competition, the Ladies field included Katarina Witt, Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan (both Tonya an Nancy in their first International assignments) and Midori Ito. The Men's event included Paul Wylie and Christopher Bowman. Here is a list of the elements they completed (just jumps and comments about spins, transitions, footwork and original moves). It seems that Midori Ito would still be a contender for Gold medals at any current events, especially with the new CoP!

Midori: 3 lutz (huge!), 3 flip (huge!), 3 loop out of spread eagle, 2axel-half loop-3 salcow combo, 3 toe-3 toe at the 3 minute mark, 3 salcow, 2 falling leaf jumps into 2 axel. She also did 2 double jumps with arm variations, fast spins with multiple changes of positions and feet; brackets, choctaws and fast footwork. She was fast with great ice coverage.

Tonya: 3 lutz, 3 toe (huge), 3 loop-2 toe, 3 flip at the 3:30 mark, 3 salcow, 3 toe-2toe. Fast spins, especially her combo spin at the end; great Ina Bauer. Great speed and fair ice coverage. Nice presentation.

Nancy: Open axel, 2toe-3toe combo, 3 salcow (fall splatttttt), 2 flip-2toe, 3 toe, 2 double axels. Nice line, decent flow, her speed was much slower than the others.

Katarina: Carmen---3 toe-2toe, 3 salcow, 2 axel, 3 toe, 2loop-2toe, 2salcow into 2 flip, 2 axel. Decent spins (fast) with little or no variations and lots of posing.

Katarina was held up in the technical marks---all 5.7's except for one 5.5 and all 5.8s and 5.9s for presentation. Midori was given 5.7s, 5.8s and two 5.9s for technique and 5.5s to one 5.8 for presentation and she was second. Tonya was 3rd, and Nancy was 5th with 5.0 - 5.4s.

Midori was awesome!!!! It seems that under CoP, her programs would still rank her extremely highly, enough to challenge anyone today! Even without her 3 axel, she was one of the best ever.

Does anyone else remember her as fondly as I do?

Midori was one of my most favorite skaters when she skated in the eligible competitions, and even after she turned pro. At the 1988 Olympics she was head and shoulders above everyone else when it came to technical content. I did not watch the 1987 NHK but the content sounds like the 88 Oly LP. I agree, she would be competitive even under the COP, and even today.

Vash
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
I have some pieces of that competition on tape too. Definitely, Midori should have been first, and I would have had Tonya 2nd. In the gala, a closeup was done of Witt, showing her armpit with a shaving error (no comment given) and Tonya AFAIR skated to When You Wish Upon a Star.
 

JonnyCoop

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
Midori is truly one of the legends of skating, and the fact that her technical content would still hold up today says volumes about what an incredible talent she was. And she is one of the rare skaters who was able to just completely entertain despite not being one of the more artistic ones out there.

I remember her from as far back as '84 -- she was sent to the Worlds as a 14-year-old. I remember looking at the results from Ottawa and wondering "Who is this Midori Ito and why is she 4th in the short and 4th in the long?" Unfortunately, due to television coverage in the mid-80s, it took 4 years before I was able to find out, and she didn't disappoint.

And of course there was also the infamous "Falling Out Of The Rink" incident at the 91 Worlds. I remember a lot of controversy over it at the time because it was felt that the judges did not deduct enough for a failed combination when this happened. Well, I still say to this day -- if you look at the tape -- yeah, she fell out of the rink, BUT technically she did actually COMPLETE the jump right before doing so, so I'm not sure that entirely counts as a botched combination. (Wonder what COP would do with THAT??)
 
S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
Thanks so much for posting this, ChiSk8Fan! I have a large number of home-made (and some store bought) videotapes from various international competitions, including US Nationals, Worlds, and the Olympics. I LOVE watching these golden oldies!! 👍

Midori Ito was one of the best jumpers of all time, the first woman to land a triple axel in competition, and she remains in my memory as a charming young woman with a great heart - and wonderful technical moves.

At the 1988 Olympics, Midori practically stole the show from the women. She was skating in the next to last flight, as the school figures kept her well down in the standings, out of the medal hunt. She landed one triple jump after another, and when she finished, the audience went crazy. Midori burst into tears, she was so happy with her performance. She had the third-best scores in the long program, after Elizabeth Manley and Katarina Witt, and had she scored higher in the school figures, she might have edged Debi Thomas for the bronze.

Ito's victory at the 1989 Worlds in Paris remains as one of the most stunning performances in women's figure skating. First triple axel at Worlds! :biggrin:
Six other perfect triples and greatly improved artistry. When Midori finished, she received five 6.0s for technical merit - the most ever awarded to a woman skater for the technical mark. She, again, was in tears of joy with her performance.

I had hoped that Midori would win the gold medal at Albertville, as I figured that Kristi Yamaguchi would remain in eligible competition through the 1994 Olympics. Alas, Ito faltered at the 1992 Olympics and had to settle for silver.
Still, her gracious acceptance of the silver warmed the hearts of many.

Remember Midori's role in the opening ceremony of the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics? She was dressed in ceremonial Japanese robes and lit the Olympic flame, to the tune of "Madame Butterfly". Wow!

OK, I'll stop gushing. :biggrin: IMHO, of course!!
 

Longhornliz

Final Flight
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
I loooooooooooove midori ito!!! I was just a little girl when all of this was going on, but I remember really being impressed with her. Her triple axel was HUGE. I much prefered hers to Tanyas. I hear kimmie miesner can do a triple axel, but I doubt with her slight frame that it would have the same power as midoris.
 

Longhornliz

Final Flight
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
thisthingcalledlove said:
And here is a short clip of that triple...


1989 Triple

And here is Yoshie's cheated triple...just to compare...

Yoshie's triple axel

You can also download the entire program on the cruella de kwan site I believe. Its worth tracking it down so you can see the joy on her face when she lands that huge jump!
 

Vash01

Medalist
Joined
Jul 31, 2003
Longhornliz said:
You can also download the entire program on the cruella de kwan site I believe. Its worth tracking it down so you can see the joy on her face when she lands that huge jump!

I have the program on tape. It was simply awesome, and reaction was so touching when the marks went up! Her exhibition was wonderful too, so childlike and such pure joy on her face!

Vash
 

floskate

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 18, 2003
Well I hardly need prompting to gush wildly about Midori Ito. I think it's so great that so many people remember her and appreciate what she did for skating. Truly I think she already has her place in history and the more people know about her the better.

Thank goodness for tape traders and sources like Rinkside so that new generations of fans can see for themselves just how much of a genius on ice she really was. And I do believe she was just that. She had so much more to her skating than just the jumps - great spins, she was a very underrated spinner IMO and as others have mentioned her programs were always jam packed with intricacy in footwork and MITF.

But it was the joy that I fell in love with. The smile attached to wings as someone called her. In an era of dour and dull ladies skating (thinking 84 - 88 here) Midori really did stand out from the rest and was like a breath of fresh air.

For those of you that would like more Midori there are some excellent clips on Rinkside and Soulseek. I'd recommend 84 Worlds, 84 Skate Canada, 88 Olys, 89 and 90 Worlds, her 92 Olys LP and probably her best ever free skate IMO which was at 89 NHK where she earned 6.0's for both technical merit and Artistic impression. :love: :love: :love:
 
S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
thisthingcalledlove said:
And here is a short clip of that triple...
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Awesome!! I still watch my videotape of the 1989 Worlds occasionally, and I get a charge out of watching Midori land that first, glorious, triple axel!

Thanks for sharing this with all of us.
 
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