1988 Winter Olympics
Broadcasting Company: ABC
Commentators: Dick Button (DB), Peggy Fleming (PF), and Jim McKay (JM)
Short Program
DB: Jim, Midori Ito is - has been compared to a Duracel battery. Unlimited energy, a high-beam smile, simply an extraordinary jumper. Her style, her lightness improved tremendously. In the first move, watch the arm position.
PF: That is fantastic. Makes the jump look higher than it is.
DB: A two jump combination.
PF: This music really adds to the excitement of this footwork. Very difficult to do all this toe work.
DB: Now look at the entrance to this double Axel. It appears that she's going to do a double Lutz but doesn't.
PF: Oh! Beautiful!
JM: Midori Ito! If she can ever master the school figures or if they should eliminate them from international competition, something we discussed last night, she could be something, don't you think, Dick and Peggy?
DB: I think, Jim, she could be marvelous, particularly in view of the fact that she has lightened up so much and improved her style so much in the past few years. She's considerably, considerably more elegant than she was.
Long Program
PF: Beautiful position on the layback, nice speed. And this program starts to build from
here on in. Wow!
DB: Look
at the height that she gets.
JM: Look at the height, yes.
DB: And
look at the smile already on her face. She is adorable.
JM: Solid.
DB: Jim, this program is a triumph of athleticism.
JM: 5
feet tall, 98 pounds, full of talent.
DB: If
sport and art are going to be battling figure skating, in this program,
athletics will win.
PF: I
think she has such a wonderful charisma with this audience. She looks like,
you know, she's just loving every moment out here.
JM: If that movement to eliminate school figures from international competition should succeed, and some think it might, she would leap up within the standings, because the school figures are what have her down in eighth place overall. She was actually fourth in the short program.
DB: Jim, you simply must recognize that this is an athletic program, the first thing judged is for, in sports. And look at that move, that was a flying sit spin, not seen in this competition by anybody else.
PF: In fact, she hasn't missed anything in this program. She's skated so well.
DB: Ohhh!
PF: She's
excited!
DB: And
look at the spin!
JM: Listen
to this!
PF: The
audience is standing up already!
JM: Listen
to this.
Triple Lutz Replay
DB: Now
look at this, of that triple Lutz. Look at the height, now look at the height,
and then the stretched right leg, the left leg wrapping around and coming
out in plenty of time. And the mouth - she knows she's landed it - there
it is. Great fun, great fun!
1989 World Championships
Broadcasting Company: NBC
Commentators: Scott Hamilton (SH), Tim ??? (T)
Long Program
T: She captured them in Calgary at the Olympics then bedazzled them in Budapest at the worlds. This may be her year to be the toast of Gay Paree, Midori Ito, going for the gold.
SH: Well, the men are known to be the jumpers of the sport, but Midori is so good she could compete with any of the men. Awesome jumps. Opening jump is a triple Lutz, look at the size!
SH: Her next jump, a triple Axel. She is the only woman in the world doing this now, and the only woman to have landed it in competition. Three-and-a-half times in the air, taking off forward. Nails it, OH!
T: What an incredible jump! Midori Ito!
SH: That was the first time a woman has ever landed a triple axel in world competition. Triple flip.
T: Scott, you thought she looked a little shaky in the warm-up. She's hot now.
SH: Very difficult jump combination coming up, a triple toe loop into triple toe loop. First one, second one! I have never seen a lady skate like this ever!
SH: Triple Salchow. A flawless program, she's in the last fifteen seconds. I think this program is impossible to beat, there's nobody in the world that could skate this kind of technical program. Brilliant performance!
1990 World Championships
Broadcasting Company: NBC
Commentators: Scott Hamilton (SH), Verne Lundquist (VL)
Long Program
VL: Now from Nagoya, Japan, 4 foot 8, 99 pounds, the defending champion Midori Ito. Seemingly out of it in the compulsory figures where she finished tenth, but she won the original program and currently stands fourth.
SH: Midori Ito is without a doubt the strongest jumper in the ladies event ever. Her first jump, triple Lutz. Beautiful!
SH: She was the first woman in the world ever to land the triple Axel, and that's what she's planned next. Look at the height on this jump, she hit beautiful ones in the warm-up. That's better than the one she landed last year!
SH:Look at the speed she has coming into the next combination of jumps. Triple flip, a little close to the wall, she decided to leave the triple toe out. Certainly won't hurt her.
VL: This rink by the way is just a bit smaller than those found in Asia and in Europe.
SH: She's been struggling with the size. She was really close to the wall on the triple Lutz and on that triple flip.
VL: As you saw in the feature that Pat O'Brien did on Midori Ito, she has been working on her artistry. Has she improved, Scott?
SH: Much improved.
SH: Nice combination of moves here, spread eagle into triple loop. She hangs onto it.
SH: Triple toe lop into triple toe loop! She was the first woman in the world ever to land that combination at twelve years old.
SH: Just an unbelievable display of jumping ability. I think it'll be 50 years before we see anything like Midori Ito again.
VL: She was the first of the final five contestants here at the arena today. She came two-and-a-half hours ago and began to warm up.
Triple Axel Replay
SH: Okay, here's a replay of that triple Axel, she's the only woman in history to ever do this. Look at the height of this jump, it's enormous! One, two, three-and-a-half revolutions, lands it perfectly on one foot.
1992 Winter Olympics
Broadcasting Company: CBS
Commentators: Scott Hamilton (SH), Verne Lundquist (VL)
Long Program
SH: She has had three days of horrible practices, and the look on her face when they announced her name was more of relief than anything else. I think she is so happy that this day has come, and the Olympics will soon behind her, the pressure will be off. But first a triple triple combination, Lutz double into triple.
SH: She was the first woman in the world to land this, she did it in 1989 to win her world championship. The triple axel jump has left her for three days, she hit one in warm-up, and she cannot hang onto the landing of this one either.
VL: We have yet to see a clean performance. The least flawed and the most pleasing to the eye was that of Kristi Yamaguchi. She is currently in first place, Nancy Kerrigan is currently in second, Tonya Harding is currently in third.
SH: The jump that Kristi missed in her slow section is the triple loop, and its one of Midori's best. Look at the height, the air position, and the flow out of it.
SH: And it seems you wait for the next jump, another triple Axel, and she lands this one! Unbelievable!
VL: That only came three minutes and ten seconds into the program.
SH: And a triple Salchow. What a shock, the triple Axel has left her all week. She throws it three minutes and ten seconds into the performance. She needed to do that in order to win a medal.
VL: Do you think that will give her one?
SH: Certainly will. That took a lot of courage, the judges know it, every skater in the building knows how difficult that is. She's defintely earned a spot on the podium.
SH: What a gutsy performance for Japan's Midori Ito.