1989 This proved to be a watershed year for Midori Ito - and for women's figure skating. After her breakthrough performances at the Calgary Winter Games, she catapulted into the spotlight - in fact, many felt she should have been even higher than her fifth place finish. With a new season underway, Midori knew she needed the triple Axel maneuver in order to have the extra edge over her competitors. She landed the very first in competition early on (at the Aichi Prefecture Championships) - but her sights were set on the Worlds in Paris. And she did not disappoint. Landing a huge - and almost overrotated - triple Axel (the first ever for a woman in major international competition), she completed six other triples (including a triple toe/triple toe), garnering five 6.0s for technical merit and the overall title. With this victory, she also became the first Asian woman to win the gold medal.

1992 After all of her woes at the 1991 Worlds in Munich, Midori bounced back with a vengeance, winning both of her Fall Grand Prix series events. At Trophee Lalique, she defeated main rival Kristi Yamaguchi (with a triple Lutz/triple toe and triple Axel) and outdid herself at NHK Trophy, unleashing a triple Axel/double toe in both original and free programs. It seemed as if she was unbeatable, and the clear frontrunner for the Winter Olympics. Her experience in Albertville, however, was not so kind.

Hounded everywhere by the Japanese media, the expectations and pressures of winning a gold medal for her country proved overwhelming. The joy had come out of her. In the practices, she was further rattled by the antics of the acrobatic Surya Bonaly, who landed a backflip in Midori's path. After a fall on her triple Lutz combination in the original program, her hopes for gold (or any medal) seemed unlikely. But she rebounded with a performance that served as testament to her courage and her guts. At three minutes and ten seconds into her free program, she uncorked the triple Axel jump that had proved so elusive all week. It was a stunning (and historic) moment - the first ever by a woman in Olympic competition. All in all, she completed five triples and vaulted to a silver medal. It was truly a bittersweet end to her amateur career.

2001 After a four year absence from competitive skating, Midori Ito made her much-anticipated return for the Japan Open pro-am at the National Yoyogi Statium in Tokyo. The field included Maria Butyrskaya, Irina Slutskaya, Lu Chen, and her coach's young student, Yoshie Onda. At thirty-one, she exuded a maturity and sophistication in both appearance and skating far removed from her younger days - but her trademark smile was still intact.

For her technical program, skating to "Voices in the Sky," Midori turned her triple Lutz/double toe loop combination into a double/single, placing fourth. The Lutz, it seemed, was always the first to go when she succumbed to nerves. But always a fighter, her interpretive free program to "Romeo and Juliet" contained a daring attempt at the triple Axel, marred only by a step-out, and two more triples, the flip and toe loop, scoring well enough to win bronze. After the competition, Midori said, "I thought it would be great to compete for the first time in Japan after my long time away." On her performance, she commented that "compared to practice, my result was about 40 percent." But if that was only 40 percent, one wishes that Midori would compete more often and show us the full 100.