The diminutive skater's career was packed with firsts, actually: In 1989, Ito became the first figure skater outside of Europe and North America to become World Champion, according to the official Olympics website; she became the first woman to land a triple Axel in competition at the NHK Trophy the year before. When she won the silver medal in 1992 for her history-making performance, it was the first figure skating medal won by an Asian nation in Olympics history.
Born in Nagoya, her skills were impressive enough at the age of 4 to attract the attention of coach Machiko Yamada. Just two years later, she moved in with Yamada's family after her parents split up. “At that time, she accepted me as one of her children,” Ito told the Los Angeles Times in 1990, adding, "So I didn’t feel that I was a hardship for her.”
“As a child, I felt I could master some of the jumps quicker than the other children,” she recalled. “Jumps that would take them three hours to learn took me an hour and a half.”
While jumping clearly came naturally to Ito, she sometimes struggled with the more artistic aspect of skating and eventually added ballet lessons to her training regime. Once described as "a smile with wings attached," Ito never lacked for enthusiasm (and was even known to pump her fist after landing especially challenging jumps).
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In 1998, Ito's legacy as Japan's first major star of the Winter Olympics was honored when she was chosen to light the Olympic Flame in the opening ceremony of the Nagano Games while dressed as the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu.
Related: Olympic Figure Skating Legend, Born With Clubfoot, Was 20 Years Old When She Won the Gold
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