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: 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?