Midori Ito was way ahead oh her time in terms of technical abilities. Even the ladies today still can't do some of the stuff she did back then. Incredible. Her jumps had so much height and power on them!

That performance deserved a 6.0 for technical merit.

Such a pleasure seeing this routine after so many years 👍 Midori Ito was way ahead of her time - this skate would still be very competitive even by today’s standards..bravo Midori 👏👏

技術構成が素晴らしい。 未だに世界一だと思います。

Legendary!!❤️

I’ve never watched her skate before, but I’m hooked now.

Midori's free skate was definitely the best performance of all of the women at the 1988 Winter Olympics! It is a shame that political bias and favourites played a huge part in the judging. 😞

こんなにお客様を沸かせる選手、見たことないよ。

Midori became a better overall skater by the Albertville Olympics in 92, but she was a mental and emotional wreck bc of the high expectations placed upon her and her own inner pressure. She didn’t have the freedom and fluidity that she has here. Too bad cuz she was the most technical proficient skater we had up until 1992. Yes, even with Tonya included Midori was the BEST !

Justice for Midori! She deserved the gold....the last flight of skaters did not compare! Scoring system was awful!!!!

that triple lutz was mile high.

Ito placing behind Witt in the long programme has to be one of the most ridiculous examples of biased judging in figure skating history. I would even put her ahead of Manley.

If Midori hadn't been screwed by the compulsory school figures, she arguably could’ve captured Gold at these Olympics. Liz Manley won the LP, but even she didn't jump like this. Both got screwed by the school figures. As usual, others’ misfortunes turned to Katarina Witt’s gain and she made off with the Gold. Witt was NOT the winner in my book.

One Midori Ito jump exceeded the entire technical components of Katarina Witt's program, yet Witt easily finished ahead of Ito in the free skate. Figure Skating has been, still is, and will always be the most corrupt "sport" in the history of the Olympic Games.

What an incredible athlete and what a lovely presence! The fist pumps on the ice, her smile...is it really a wonder why the crowd was standing for her? She'd get some justice in 1992 with her silver medal. Her free skate there was historic, even with a fall. So interesting to hear things like "she's only 18" from the commentators. The idea that she'd be better off at 22 years old is sadly missing today. But it is good they are raising the minimum age

Good program.

I know she never was, but Witt should have been ashamed to accept the gold medal given Midori's performane. I mean ,seriously, what kind of argument can Witt makes that doesn't make her look foolish? "Yeah, Midori is ten times more athletic than me, has more speed, and just didn't just dance around the rink for a minutel like I did, but hey, I can carve our pretty pictures and shapes on the ice! That makes me better!" Please. Judges were so misogynistic back then in how they viewed what women should be doing for "artistry". In that era they could never absorb the possibility that athleticism could be artistic just in itself. Even Kwan's coach admitted in an interview that when he turned Kwan into a more seductive skater, it turned her career around. If memory serves, Michelle wasn't even 18 when she started to go in that direction with her "artistry". Talk about creepy. One shouldn't need to get turned on in order to feel that one's artistry is better. I'm all for taking artistic risk, and you can't blame Kwan or her coach for doing what she had to do in order to win, but still, figure skating's monolithic views of female skating was pathetic.

She did all that and 2 judges had the gall to give her a 5.8 for technical merit! As if 7 perfectly executed triples, a flying sitspin, a beautiful layback and speed across the ice were going to bested by anybody else that night. As a group, figure skating judges are the most corrupt people in sports. That hadn’t changed with the new scoring system.

Medals should have been: Gold for Manely Silver for Witt Bronze for Ito

Best performance of the night and it didn't medal. Say what you will about the current scoring system but 6.0 was trash.

This was wonderful. She should’ve been at least third place over Debbie Thomas.

She was robbed

Midori Ito hätte eine Medaillie/Bronze bekommen müssen!! Die Wertung war unfair !!!! Midori Ito ist viel besser gesprungen als Debi Thomas. 😖

So confused by these commentators that Triple to Triple to her best combination, they don’t even say anything

incredible jumps and high energy , but still lacking artistry in my opinion , her jumping abilities were equal to those of male skaters , but she wasn't a complete skater , otherwise it is a shame she didn't win a medal here .

The real champion!!

She should've won silver or bronze. This was the the most technically difficult program of the competition and she had the audience in her hand. No one could match her jumps, Not to mention she did a 3-3 in the second half of her program. Most women were doing the difficult combinations in the beginning of their programs back then.

30 years later and still a masterpiece

At the end, her excitement, the commentators excitement - moments like that don't happen anymore.

This free programme is a bomb - and don't say she was just "technical" with a lack of artistic impression. You couldn't be more wrong. Every jump fits to the rhythm of the music score, no movement or step off beat, great transitions. Simply perfect on both sets of marks!

Midori would be competitive with a skate like this even now, 26 years later, just wow! that triple-triple toe and double axel - half loop - triple salchow were top notch. and the height of the lutz, at a time when nobody else was doing that, was enormous

I'm a great believer in mastering the basics of anything you set out to do and do well, but Midori Ito was the greatest single argument for eliminating school figures. The fact that she earned 5.9s from 7 of 9 judges here on the technical score tells me she pretty much had the fundamentals down cold. She went on to earn 6.0s for the artistic as well as the technical marks later in her career. So far ahead of her time; such a joy to watch.

One for the ages. This program never gets old for me. It is one of the great legendary performances.... without a doubt.

I just watched Elizabeth Manley's 1988 Calgary skate to compare it to Midori's skate above. Liz received for technical merit five 5.9 two 5.8 and two 5.7. For Midori's skate above she received seven 5.9 and two 5.8. I am a Canadian and was very proud of Liz that night bringing home a silver medal. But after watching both skate's now I see how much technically superior Midori's skate was over Liz's skate. Midori's speed is faster, jumps higher and more technically difficult. There was no way that based upon how Midori was scored, Liz deserved five 5.9's. I am not a judge and don't know how they scored under their 6 point system but for 5 judges to give Liz equal technical marks to Midori's top skate marks is just wrong. It is too bad Midori had to skate under that scoring system. I am still proud of what Liz Manley did that night, but have come to realize how technically superior Midori was to every skater that night. And as 1989 and 1990 showed, Midori's technical skills grew far beyond those of all other female skaters (equal to the male skaters in many ways) as Scott Hamilton and Toller Cranston so aptly described in her 1990 Worlds long program. Watch the U.S. and Canadian versions of her 1990 world's skate.

For me Midori Ito is definitely the best female free skater of all time. She revolutionized the sport of women's figure skating, she was the first woman to have complete mastery of all the triple jumps and her atheleticsm was unequaled. It's too bad that the judges were constantly cheating and she never got the recognition she deserved(especially in the 88' Olympics). Even with all the bias against her ,she still left an indelible mark on figure skating that will never be forgotten.

5.8 for this program is an injustice. this program was technically light years out of the field and should have been placed 1st in the long. how witt placed above this is beyond me.

Never again an athlete has made such a great impact on this sport like she did. From that time till 200 hundred years forward the people will still remember Midori Ito.

Robbed. Even with her poor figures she should've won a medal by getting 1st in LP and SP.

I remember this night well. All the ladies has been falling and Midori came out and hit 7 triples and was just amazing. It was so exciting and she was adorable. The music was lovely and even though she could have improved on the artistry, it was memorable for sure. Fantastic

She should have been 1st in the long program.

What an unforgettable performance!

I remember watching this with friends my senior year in college. By the end we were screaming--who is this tiny girl out of nowhere with the killer jumps. Nailed every single one!

I recently came across this article from the The Herald Scotland, August 16, 1992, an exerpt from it. "Midori Ito of Japan has reclaimed figure skating and is transforming a sport where elegance once ruled. Like ice dancing, figure skating is a mix of ballet, gymnastics and showmanship but a new athleticism has been introduced to the sport. In 1988 Little Ito, as she's affectionately known, became the first woman to perform one of the trickiest of all skating manoeuvres -- a triple Axel (named after Axel Paulsen, a Norwegian skater at the turn of the century). ''She's the only woman I've seen who can compete with the top men. Her jumping ability is incredible,'' says Canadian gold medallist Kurt Browning. Midori Ito ''is in the vanguard of a new breed of athletes poised to turn the sport into acrobatics,'' reported The New York Times recently."

One of the greatest free skates in Olympic history, if not THE best! A legend, an icon, and a woman who revolutionized the sport!!!! I miss her so much.

She is a legend!　I love watch her powerful performances. It's cheer me up.

Here we are 26 years later! I just finished watching the 2014 Ladies LP in Sochi and you know while the top ladies were very good none of them moved me like Midori all those years ago. This one I will always remember, the ones an hour ago I could forget by tomorrow. Happy for Kostner though, she has battled long and hard to get an Olympic medal.

I remember, I bursted into tears of joy with her :) she was so adorable but underrated with her artistic skating

Under the current system, she would have won by a mile.... katarina witt only did 4 triples and 2 double axels and they were the easiest triples ( toe and sal )... midori did 7 triples which include a triple-triple, a triple lutz and a triple flip, and also 2 double axels.... how did she not win the long program

The scoring of this event is ridiculous. It is obvious from the fan's reaction and from the profound effect that Midori's performance had on me with such incredible tech content and great depth of emotion with such incredible skating skills as well that she should have won the freeskate. She should have won the SP also. These are two truly memorable Olympic performances and, excluding figures which I don't even get to see which makes me not care about it, I think Midori should have won the gold at this Olympics. I know figures were part of the competition but I think she still should have won the skating portion.

THAT WAS A COMPLETE PRIVILEGE WATCHING THAT!!!!

I love her coach's glasses: the big lenses and how they are slightly shaded.

Her smile after she landed that first jump is one of my favorite Olympic moments.

I agree- should be 6.0 for technical here- she was WAY ahead of her time!

In the end, Midori is more legendary than the winner here, Katarina Witt. Her jumping ability remains unparalleled, IMO. The absence of a medal here shows that the best skater doesn't always win.

The poor judges just didn't know how to handle her. If Midori had come along a decade later, she'd be a multiple gold medalist. I do believe she had a profound impact, along with Janet Lynn, on the figures being eliminated.

So many people loved to hate Midori, but looking at her skating after so many years, the only reproach that can be made concerns her posture. Otherwise, she was great. And she was miles ahead of her time

Have you ever seen a happier human being?

Amazing!

How can someone so tiny jump like that? Best jumper ever. An icon to be sure.

She was just the cutest. I always cry when I watch this. Just the natural athleticism and enthusiasm she had was terrific.

Some think Ito should've been second in the LP to Manley but I personally thought she should've been first. The choreography is incredible (spread eagle into a triple loop, ina bauer into a triple triple combination, russian splits into triple salchow, two split leaps off of one foot into a double axel and then straight into her scratch spin), the spins are fast and centred, edges are incredibly strong, and she skates with such charm, charisma, and power. No one came close to her here.

Holy Smoke. I counted 7 clean triples. Am I right in saying she's the first girl to complete 7 triples at a major international competition? And her 2a+3s seq was so ahead of time. She could have won a gold medal at any major competition today.

Didn't know that, thanks!

THE GREATEST WOMAN ATHLETE EVER... I.M.O.

the USA and URS judges holding back marks on both Manley and Ito. transparent.

Midori Ito is the only non-American Asian lady I've seen who has a good leg position in her layback.

Dick keeps talking to Jim, but its Peggy who replies... ;) Love Love Midori!!

Yeah, I'm disappointed that I didn't have the chance to see this woman skate when I was younger. Incredible speed on those jumps.

The 2 split leaps off of one foot are called "falling leaf" jumps.

1:39 I love (I have no idea what it's called) when she moves her free leg in the spin and it propels her to spin faster for a moment.

no one skated with her speed…her flow in and out of jumps…the speed of her spins. and she did every type of triple. katarina witt only did the triple toe and the triple salchow. this whole "artistic" side of skating. is it a sport or a tap recital?

A real trailblazer.

Sheer JOY!

what a corruption with the old system! they had exchanged Witt's first place against what? it is scandalous: this woman is triple salchow and triple loop. she finishes first! midori ito makes an I-spin, raises her arms in the air on a double jump (she is 20 years old and announces the new system) an incredible speed and artistic fluidity, makes a triple-triple combination, triple lutz , triple flip with heights and remarkable receptions and she ends up behind Witt! and nobody reacted to the corruption of the sport until the case with Judge Marie-Reine and his colleagues judged bursts in 2002 at the Olympics! what a shame !

She got jobbed because of those stupid school figures, they took too long to ditch those things, Midori had the best program of the night, better than every girl that made the podium

If school figures hadn't been part of the competition, Midori would have won the gold. Figures were her nemesis.

This was the event that lost me as a viewer. She was clearly doing things the other girls just could not. If the NBA had judges Shaq would be the worlds largest security guard instead of a champion. Then again, X games judges wouldn't have let this happen.

MIDORI. MY FUCKING WIG MIDORI.

This is one of my favorite performances in Olympic figure skating. The comment about the judges "leaving room" for the other skaters technical merit scores was ridiculous. Other than Elizabeth Manley, no one else was going to come close to touching that performance. Did the judges not watch the official practices? Of course they did. And even Manley didn't have the same technical content.

I am impressed that Kim Yu-Na's return to competitive skating included an much improved leg and foot position in her layback. The free foot is now parallel to the ice and no longer points downward as before. I'd love to see her continue to make improvements on that spin. American women and 3 Swiss women (Biellmann, Krieg and Ruh) dominated this spin, with the Swiss being better at centering, speed and number of revolutions.

And there are no 6.0s in technical merit for this program because?....

didn't she get the highest technical marks of the night?

By the way, what did Jim say and tell about? 6:17 I would hear, "I think that even better than (she)...hope them tray(?) for the evening. Budda shrine ever afternoon at (her) school" ???? :) I can't quite catch him and understand that.

I don't think it was too common for a skater who performed that poorly in the compulsories to have such a high technical score. The judges HAD to leave enough room for the scenario that every skater after her was better. Since she wasn't in the last group, that leaves at LEAST six decimal marks they had to leave ahead for combined score, which means they couldn't score her higher than a 10.4 combined (at most). With 5.9 earned for technical merit, that left a maximum base artistic score of 5.7. I think they decided to pull back on the artistic mark because they would never be able to justify making room on the technical mark. So, 5.7 would be the "weighted" perfect score. Approximately. With that in mind, these scores are fantastic.

She should have got sixes for technical merit. Very unlucky not to have got silver at least!

Liz really deserved to win the free but Midori should have been second, the british judge, Sally Stapleford marked her second and rightly so, if Midori had been second in the free Liz would have won gold, which I think everyone thinkns should have been the right result that night!

@jhecht424 The judges have their biases, i suppose. The judges' stated reason for not giving her a 6.0 is because it "wasn't her time". Bulls**t.

Midori was in lower 10th place on compulsory figures and finished the 5th overall unfortunately. Nevertheless, I wish she could have won a place on the podium. I still wonder if the judgement (sp: the 4th & fp: the 3rd) was reasonable or not...

how the hell did katarina witt place over this with only two different types of triple jumps??? Midori had 5 different types( at that time), and did two triple-triple combos! What a joke.

Had Katarina Witt had been placed 3rd in the free skate, and Ito 2nd where she rightly belonged, Elizabeth Manley would have won the gold medal. Add another item to the long list of incorrect figure skating outcomes. Now with the skaters of today and the system, no one even cares anymore

Her and Jill Trenary were quite overlooked that year! Debi Thomas was overrated

Very true, American women dominate that spin, European and Asian women do not

You have to remember theres 2 scores, and for artistry, Midori then only got the scores she got because of her first mark, Liz trounced her in the second mark, as far as a complete programme goes, Liz was the complete skater on the night

Does anyone but me thought the way the coach showed affection was gross and disgusting..not to mention hugely inappropriate...I don't care what Japanese culture does but this was a huge international event..and to do that not only in public but on television for the world to see....GROSS