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Midori Ito
(伊藤みどり Itō
Midori, born August 13, 1969) is a former Japanese
figure skater. She was the first Asian World
Figure Skating Championships|world champion in the
sport.

Born in Nagoya, Ito started skating at age 5. She
won her first national championship in 1985,
having already participated in the World
Championships one year earlier. She placed 5th at
the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada. The
following year, she became the first woman to land
a axel jump|triple axel in competition, when
competing at the World Championships. Her
performance earned her the gold medal, the first
in the sport for an Asian competitor, and five
perfect marks of 6.0 for technical merit.

She did not retain her title in the following two
years (second in 1990, fourth in 1991), but still
was one of the favourites for the Olympic title at
the 1992 Winter Olympics. Japanese-American Kristi
Yamaguchi won the gold in Albertville, with Ito
taking the silver. She turned professional
afterwards, and performed with ice shows in Japan.
 Ito briefly returned to competitive skating in
the 1995-1996 season, but without her former
success.

During the peak of her career, Ito was an
immensely powerful skater, performing much the
same jump content as the top male skaters of the
time.  In addition to being the first female
skater to perform the triple axel jump, some years
earlier she was also the first to perform a
triple/triple jump combination.  Ito's energetic
skating style did not always find favor with the
judges.  Later in her career, in trying to adopt a
softer and more stereotypically "feminine" style,
Ito seemed to lose much of the natural joy that
had characterized her earlier skating.  Ito also
struggled with compulsory figures before they were
eliminated in competition after the 1990 season,
and in coping with the attention of the Japanese
press following her World Championship win.

During the opening ceremonies of the 1998 Winter
Olympics, Ito had the honour of lighting the
Olympic Flame in the stadium.

== External link ==

* http://www.mountaindragon.com/midori/ Midori Ito
fan site, including extensive biography and
pictures