Midori Ito's camera pit crash of 1991

I always liked this skater, so I am not making fun of her. But I came across a video of the incident:

http://www.mountaindragon.com/midori/miimages.htm

I never seen the competition but Button once mentioned it and I wonder how it looked. Thanks for posting it, that was pretty funny.

I'm glad she didn't get hurt. It is kinda funny, though. For some reason I always thought it was during the Olympics and she landed on her feet. Guess my memory is fuzzy

I am a big fan of Midori too, but I thought the camera pit crash was hysterical. She always was kind of accident prone. This incident because so infamous that falling out of the boards become known as doing "a Midori."

1991 Worlds - Ladies Short Program

This unusual fall may have been the begining of the series of events that changed Figure Skating viewership history forever several years later.

Because of Midori's fall, she was ranked 4th in the Short Program. Because she was bruised and hurt, but not damaged, in the fall, and because of the confidence problems it created, she skated poorly in the Long Program. Nancy Kerrigan was able to sneak in and get the Bronze medal, and completing a sweep for the Americans. This set up the rivalry between Tonya, who was second, and Nancy to begin after Midori and Kristi retired after the 1992 Olympics. One of the things Tonya said later in the investigation was that she called to get information about Nancy to have her sign a picture of the American sweep in Munich.

Here in the US, the coverage that year was on NBC with great commentary by Robin Cousins and Sandra Bezic (with Dick Enberg). Midori actually fell on the double toe loop, with no specific deduction noted in the rules at that time for leaving the ice during a program, after completing a beautiful triple lutz. She was behind her music and rushed through her steps into a double flip and her combination spin (missing a revolution or two and obviously behind the music) and completed her program with a not so great double axel landing (huge jump). Some of her scores were quite forgiving, but most were fair, and she wasn't held up, even though she was reigning world silver medalist and champion in 1989.

Robin Cousins said, succinctly, "She has a habit of jumping too close to the boards. We've seen her take several hard bangs into the barrier and it was only a matter of time before that happened in a major competition."

I suppose that after this, a specific deduction was written for leaving the ice during an event, so it can be called the "Midori Rule".

It also may have helped set up the biggest scandal ever to have struck US Figure Skating, and the subsequent media boom and popularity of skating.

I'm bummed that I didn't start to get into figure skating until '92 Winter Olympics and thus had my first glimpse of Midori. I remember seeing some highlights of her achievements and the fall was shown. I also remember how it endeared me to her when she immediately sprung up and got back on the ice as if it hadn't happened and she had this infecticious smile in the process

Thanks for the analysis, ChiSk8Fan. Love it!

MM

...you also have to admire the woman for such humility...When she came in second to KY at the Olympics ( she would have actually probably have won had she not fallen on her first triple axle attempt) she got on TV and broadcat to the entire nation of Japan her appologies for not winning. Talk about having the pressure of a nation on your shoulders!...I miss her, she was one of the GREAT skaters and I hope to see her inducted into the World FS Hall of Fame (if she hasn't already )

sk8m8 said:

I miss her, she was one of the GREAT skaters and I hope to see her inducted into the World FS Hall of Fame (if she hasn't already )

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Indeed she was, in 2003. In fact, the main page of the World Figure Skating hall of Fame web site says,

"The Hall of Fame includes such distinguished skaters as Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, Dick Button, Scott Hamilton, Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov, Midori Ito, Sonja Henie, and Katarina Witt."

MM

I finally got the tape of this event last year and I could hardly believe how far she flew! It was such a shame, really. The figures that had proven so costly for her at the 1990 Worlds were gone and it was the perfect chance for Midori to shine. But, at least she didn't give up. She certainly wasn't in the form that won her the 89 World title or the 90 World silver, but she fought through the rest of her SP and the LP and placed a respectable fourth. She had such spunk and a genuine glow about her.....you can still see it when they show her in the commentating booth or wherever. She was one of a kind!

BronzeisGolden said:

I finally got the tape of this event last year and I could hardly believe how far she flew! It was such a shame, really. The figures that had proven so costly for her at the 1990 Worlds were gone and it was the perfect chance for Midori to shine. But, at least she didn't give up. She certainly wasn't in the form that won her the 89 World title or the 90 World silver, but she fought through the rest of her SP and the LP and placed a respectable fourth. She had such spunk and a genuine glow about her.....you can still see it when they show her in the commentating booth or wherever. She was one of a kind!

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The fall in the camera pit caused a concern but nothing was broken. I admired her spunk in getting back on the ice with a huge smile, and she continued to skate as if nothing had gone wrong. Her real injury though that caused her to miss the podium was her crash with Letitia Hubert during the warm up of the LP. Her ribs were bruised and she was contemplating withdrawing, but her fed asked her to skate so that Japan could get 3 spots at the 92 Olympics. She skated the LP but she was in too much pain. She missed many jumps and placed 4th behind Nancy.

I really wanted her to win the 1992 Olympic gold. If it were not for the media frenzy and the excessive pressure on her by the Japanese press, she might have won it. Still, she showed her mettle in winning the silver after a disastrous SP.

Vash

I videotaped that incident - at the 1991 Worlds in Munich. Midori Ito collided with Letitia Hubert during the warm-up for the short program, and both women were shaken up but managed to skate their short programs.

Ito then set herself up poorly for her triple lutz/double toe combination and took off too close to the boards for her lutz. She fell through the television camera put, right into the camera, and then bounced back into the rink to complete her short program. The judges gave her good marks, and she was in third place going into the long program. Unfortunately for Midori, the back, chest, and rib injuries - bruises, not broken bones - kicked in, bigtime, the day of the long program, and Midori singled, doubled, or fell on most of her triples. She finished fourth overall.

That was the Worlds in which the American women swept the medals - Kristi Yamaguchi (gold), Tonya Harding (silver), and Nancy Kerrigan (bronze.

Vash01 said:

I really wanted her to win the 1992 Olympic gold. If it were not for the media frenzy and the excessive pressure on her by the Japanese press, she might have won it. Still, she showed her mettle in winning the silver after a disastrous SP.

Vash

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Me, too. My heart went out to her all that time. You could practically see the pressure she was feeling. But she showed plenty of humility as sk8m8 said. And it definitely took a lot of guts on her part to go for and land the 2nd triple axel after she fell on it the first time.

I wonder if she would have been hurt worse had the pit not been there and it had been just the boards? Would she have seen it, or been so into her zone, would she have hit the boards, with no place to go?

Did she curtsy after this fall? I heard that she did and got right back to the program.

I remember the famous Midori Triple Axel incident. It was the most "surreal" moment in figure skating ever. I remember seeing her "disappear" into the camera crew and then bounce back onto the ice without missing a beat. I don't know if she knew what had happened or not. She carried on like nothing had taken place.

What a great jumper. Probably the greatest woman jumper ever.

sk8m8 said:

...you also have to admire the woman for such humility...When she came in second to KY at the Olympics ( she would have actually probably have won had she not fallen on her first triple axle attempt) she got on TV and broadcat to the entire nation of Japan her appologies for not winning. Talk about having the pressure of a nation on your shoulders!...I miss her, she was one of the GREAT skaters and I hope to see her inducted into the World FS Hall of Fame (if she hasn't already )

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She would not have won even if she had landed the first triple axel, and more, because she was in 4th place going into the LP. For her to win, Kristi had to place 3rd or lower. Kristi skated well enough to place at least second (Tonya, Nancy, and Surya did not skate upto their potential), so she was assured of the gold even if Midori had won the LP. However, had Midori missed the second triple axel, I doubt that she would have won the silver. It showed a lot of guts on her part to take that risk.

Vash

While I always watched skating the 1991 worlds ladies event was my frirst vivid memory of a whole skating eve4nt. I was 6 1/2. I remember Kristi winning and becoming my first swkating idol. I remember the three American flags. At this time I never saw a perswon as happy a Kristi was that night.

I don't remember Midori[s crash into the boards. But I do remember hyer distasterous LP. I rember she she was dressed all in black. I remember she kept falling and I felt bad for her.

I enjoyed seeing Midori's personality with her reactions to the SP incident. She knocked herself on her head during her bows indicating she knew she did a stupid thing. After her bows, she went over to the camera pit and patted the camera to see if it was okay. It was very endearing.