Midori Ito - 1986 World Championships Long Program

Midori Ito moves up to 11th place overall at the 1986 World Figure Skating Championships in Geneva after this long program placed 5th in the segment.

[@tn1810]

たった1人でフィギュアスケートの未来を切り開いたことがよくわかる映像ですね。 1986年で6トリプルは凄すぎます。

[@user-zg6ls9yk2o]

みどりは現役時代アーティスティックがどうのこうのって言われてたけど 今観ると凄く綺麗だし 何でそんな事言われていたのか不思議 表現力あるし、ジャンプだけでなくスピンやスケーティングも綺麗🎉

[@user-mw9xh2nk4e]

何度見ても、何年の年月を経ても色褪せない　伊藤みどりの笑顔ジャンプ。貴女に、何度も勇気づけられました｡日本の宝です!

[@user-nt5sg5ie4z]

みどりは次元が違う、二度と出てくることはない。

[@user-uu5dz2mr9c]

みどりさんは、スピードと流れがあるので　あっという間に終わる感じですね、とにかく、ダイナミック❗️

[@user-ed5lm7kc8k]

今のスケート靴履いていたら 確実に4回転飛んでたと思います。昔はもっと重かったみたいだから。 あとあれだけ難しいことをやりながらも 弾ける笑顔は最高でした。。

[@Rosie.S.T]

本当に重かったですよ。スケート靴持ってリンクに通うのが嫌になるくらいでした。 今のスケート靴と重さが全く違いました。 しかも、靴の中のインソール部分が固すぎて履いていて疲れて足裏が痛くなるんですよ。 あの重さでこの高さは驚異的です。

[@user-cm7sv3ys6u]

みどりちゃんの最後の高速スピンが大好き💓

[@Griffon868]

Fastest! Highest! She might be a best woman skater in the history!

[@user-tg3zb4hh2o]

伊藤みどりさんのスケートなぜか毎日見入ってます！こんなに海外で評価された人が30年以上前に居たとは驚きですね！大谷翔平クラスです！なぜ日本国内では低評価だったのかな？

[@MADHAUSMARKALLAN]

incredible addition to Midori Ito archives on KZbin! thank you!

[@natew5694]

I'm so glad we're no longer using a system where this would place 5th. Ironically, Witt was the first woman credited with landing a triple flip in I think 1982, but then she stopped doing it, unfortunately.

[@davidneely5750]

I miss those good old fashioned scratch spins ❤

[@alexeydymov5602]

Лучшая в эти годы!

[@januszk9446]

Bezkonurencyjna i przepiekna !!!!!!!

[@vistaprime]

two triple combinations....this could still be competitive in 2017 with the top women.

[@jayawr]

I can see how Witt's program beat this, since Witt was defending champion and the judges liked her artistry. However, I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind placing Tiffany Chin's skate over this...

[@corymajor7811]

Yeah that is crazy. Ito wasn't in medal contention though due to compulsory figures and was in an early flight so the judges weren't really scoring her against the people who were.

[@januszk9446]

Polacy pamietaja !!! :)

[@drsuessl]

Please stop calling her a girl. She’s competing in a women’s competition “ladies “ in figure skating. Please refer to all the male skaters as boys if you insist on calling the women girls. I love Madori Ito. Always a class act ❤️

[@MrJm323]

You think a 16 year-old boy would be offended by being called a "boy" -- even if he is competing with men?

[@baritonebynight]

Midori Ito had not yet reached her magnificent prime. So what if she didn't win gold in the Olympics, she was the best. We shall not see another like her again......or Tonya Harding.....who, in her best year, was every bit as amazing. Ito was a joy to watch, Harding was pure excitement.

[@alexsdb9712]

True. However, Harding's was a sad and upsetting situation. Ito and Harding were both in the same situation of rising in the ranks with revolutionary and daring skating, and at the same time, but Harding was the one blocked for years and held back from rising. It was her own skating federation who did that to her rather than the international judges who gave her credit. Imagine that. You have to get past your own skating federation first, but Harding was being held down by hers. What Harding was doing in her practices in the USA was just totally advanced and another level, just like Ito. You cannot surpass that. Meanwhile, Ito just kept moving up and being out there with her type of abilities, but she did get "normal" support from her federation. It really should have been Ito and Harding going out there rising and dominating at the same time.

[@corymajor7811]

@@alexsdb9712 USFSA is totally different to Japan federation. US wanted another ice princess in the Fleming and Hamill mode. It really bothered me when Yamaguchi who wasn't even yet an artistic or complete skater, just a jumping bean herself with very good but tiny jumps came out of nowhere and a super low figures placing to beat a hot Tonya off the World Team in 89. Disgusting.

[@alexsdb9712]

@@corymajor7811 Yes, and in the end, it was the USFSA and simply United States figure skating and sports that suffered. They got what they deserved. But Harding gets the last laugh now.

[@officeaddict33]

iceroby72 - Witt certainly did not do triple flips very often.

[@iceroby72]

@officeaddict33 Katarina Witt is the first woman to perform a triple flip in 1982.

[@victoriagill3337]

Roberto Settimj 1981

[@officeaddict33]

How on earth does this come in 5th for the free? Katarina Witt could barely do a 3Loop. 3 Flips were considered hard in 1986 for women and Midori's technical marks should've been all 5.8 and 5.9s.

[@corymajor7811]

Due to doing so terrible in figures she was in an earlier flight. That always affected the marks bigtime under the 6.0 system.

[@victoriagill3337]

Witt was the first woman to land a 3F in 1981

[@januszk9446]

Gratulacje - Jutta Miiler !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@jayawr]

Is that the legendary Betty Calloway doing commentary???

[@victoriagill3337]

jayawr it is

[@trav16z]

she seems taller to me for some reason here lol

[@officeaddict33]

@iceroby72 - True .... but she was not known for her triple-jumping.

[@januszk9446]

to były inne czasy !! ale Kasia Witt - była wtedy bezkonurencyjna !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@victoriagill3337]

She has great height and length in her jumps and her edge work is very good, despite not being very good at compulsory figures but that leg wrap ruins it for me and she always did it - even when she won the world title in 1989

[@quiddy]

OMG I LOVE LOVE her leg wrap. I don’t understand why it’s discouraged in figure skating instruction. I love it because it is such a visual texture midair and you can clearly see the dynamism of the rotation, as opposed to a very narrowly tight position, which makes it harder to see the rotations midair. Also the high leg wrap is so satisfying because you know the landing will not be two-footed, whereas a with a tight leg position you still have that uncertainty of the landing being 2-footed.

[@victoriagill3337]

@@quiddy it’s not particularly aesthetic

[@quiddy]

@@victoriagill3337 "not particularly aesthetic" is akin to "not beautiful" or "not visually appealing." Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...what is visual noise to someone could be visual texture/movement to another. Tell me, which jumps would you rather watch over and over again, Mao Asada's or Midori Ito's?

[@victoriagill3337]

@@quiddy neither to be honest

[@quiddy]

@@victoriagill3337 well then you must not have any aesthetic sensibility

[@user-to8hb7tt9r]

伊藤みどりさんは、フィギュアコーチなんかされないのかなぁ～？スピードやジャンプ力、ステップの精巧さなんかは、今の男子選手に負けてないと思う。手をバレリーナ風にすれば、ロシア選手にも負けてない☝️。

[@officeaddict33]

I LOVE Midori but talk about the wrong music for the wrong skater.

[@gracewilliams338]

I don't care about jumps. Ice skate should be about artisty and graceful movements, mostly. She lacked that, badly.

[@hennagaijin100]

Ichi is #10

[@joestrek2011]

This isn't ice dancing...

[@Kevinsf]

just go watch ballet. this is a sport not theatre.

[@victoriagill3337]

@@Kevinsf this is artistic skating though

[@user-kf8wb2cq4f]

Just a Jumper. Nothing else.

[@martinbuckenmaier4372]

The jumps are amazing, no doubt. But there is zero emotion. She's like a robot and that was her downfall.

[@alexsdb9712]

She was a girl who was a raw technical and strong skater at first. However, a year or two, she'd get the artistic side as well and become more complete. You could see by 1987 how it wasn't forced but she was naturally musical and sensitive. The same thing happened to Tonya, however it is interesting that it was Tonya who was more complete than Midori early on. Tonya at such a young age showed some characteristics of a classical skater in her artistry while doing her big moves that no one was doing.

[@corymajor7811]

@@alexsdb9712 Harding's artistry and overall skating started to go downhill bigtime after say 87 and 88. Ito's by contrast improved greatly after 86.

[@alexsdb9712]

@@corymajor7811 That is true. Harding was much more classic in her skating early in her career and then lost that touch later in her skating years. It was Ito who was raw and less refined early on, but then really showed us how artistic and detailed she was with each year. They traded almost.