Midori Ito

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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 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 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.