The same with the lutz jump, there is definitely no need to worry about a flutz with Ms. Ito!

@@alexsdb9712she had a flutz tho

Yes her polish and line was not the best but she was still very artistic in many aspects. If she were Russian or Canadian rather than Japanese they would have buried any idea of her weakness (like Stojko or Slutskaya who had even uglier and worse positions than her) and played up her strengths and how amazingly artgistic she was, and combined with her jumps, would be unbeatable. Even her figures which probably werent that good would be held up in top 3 or 4 by politics so she could win the gold, if she were Canadian, American, or Russian.

and unrewarded by the judges.

⁠@@travisstrong5389so true. Looking back at Jill’s lackluster performance I’m even starting to think that Midori was the more ARTISTIC skater from the beginning. Midori’s program was thematically complete and coherent. Her program held your attention from beginning to end. Jill’s program was a hodgepodge of classical pieces that didn’t really say much. And as far as artistic skating - Jill didn’t exactly look engaged throughout her program. Midori was committed to every arm movement, she looks up and OUT into the audience - what more can you ask of the poor girl? Fireworks??? We’ll she gave those, too, figuratively!!!! So, yes, I agree, Midori was underscored. She took you on a mesmerizing ride, and she deserved a 6.0 for artistic impression, too!

That's right. Midori Ito was very sensitive and musical in her artistry, and a big factor: sincere. There are many figure skaters who have nice programs and a good team behind their programs and content, Jill Trenary and Kristi Yamaguchi is included in a long list, but it's not with the same sincerity and intention such as Midori Ito when presenting it. This factor is what judges (if not doing corrupt dealings) must consider separates the true artistry and presentation from the rest.

@@dmp7252 I never found Jill that great an artist personally. Her former training mate Caryn Kadavy was the big US artist IMO, not so much Jill.

@@alexsdb9712 Agree on all of that. I do think Kristi as a pro really grew artistically in that way though, as an amateur I found her very shall we say rehearsed, despite judges and experts lauding her "artistry". Ito is so underrated, particularly her artistic abilities.

She did the entire triple package

They simply can't give all sixes if there's someone else left to skate. The next skater(s) has/have to be given the same opportunities to win. Even if Jill had never done a triple axel or a 3-3 before, she could have feasibly thrown them in. Many skaters have done that kind of thing after another skater performed well. Oksana Baiul threw in an extra jump after Nancy Kerrigan's near-perfect Olympic long prgram, for example. She wasn't slated to, and the result was that she was able to edge out Nancy for the gold. To give Midori all sixes would be shutting Jill out before she even skated, and that's just not done in this sport. This is also why you will see the first skater in the last group get scores like 5.6s after a spectacular performance - they have to leave room for any skater afterwards who pulls out all the stops. Michelle Kwan in '98 had a perfect performance too - and was only given 5.7s and 5.8s, because her closest rival Tara Lipinski was to skate after her. This gave judges room to give 5.9s to Tara who skated with more technical prowess, and also left room for the final skater (Butyrskaya I think?...or Slutskaya). Anyway, they don't use this system now, we have to sit through confusing hundredths of points and watching very odd jerky choreography.

I know this comment is 11 years old but wasn't Mao Asada doing all 6 back in 2010? These days some of the girls are doing Quad Lutzs.

@@erika6651 mao never fixed her lutz edge and she frequently avoided the salchow Recently many of them are doing the full blade cheat quad lutz under Eteri (there are many you tube videos on their pre rotations) But I suppose the quad salchows are real

@@lutz84 We really got spoiled by Ito and Harding. I was hoping when the quads finally came along they'd be as explosive as the 3axels of those two technical powerhouses. Unfortunately it is not how things developed.

Indeed. It’s now pre rotate as much as you can and then spin really really fast

You probably never thought your comment would be generating responses 11 years later. Ha! If you ask me, we still, to this day, have never seen a talent like Midori Ito. Yes, we have Trusova with the quads, and Valieva with the triple axel as well, but the don't skate with near the same speed as Midori Ito did. Yes, we have Kaori Sakamoto, who reminds me of Ito from time to time, but her jumps don't get nearly the same breathtaking height as Midori's. Ito's training was also phenomenal. When she is ON, she lands her jumps with even more speed that she entered them. Her jumps also tend to continue to rise, where other people simple can't hang in the air the way she could. That's why when she jumps, you sort of feel like you're watching magic because her body continues to rise, when you expect it to return to the ground. Scott Hamilton said that Midori Ito is a "once in a lifetime" talent. He should know, he won the Olympics and has seen countless skaters. His words stand true to this very day. We have NEVER seen this quality of jumping since Ito.