Quad (figure skating)
A quad, or quadruple, is a figure skating jump with at least three but less than four revolutions. Most quadruple jumps have 3 1/2 revolutions; the quadruple Axel has 4 1/2 revolutions, although no figure skater to date has completed this jump in competition. The quadruple toe loop and quadruple Salchow are the two most commonly skated in the discipline. Quadruple jumps have become increasingly common among World and Olympic level men's single skaters, to the point that not having one in a program has come to be seen as a severe handicap. The first person to land a ratified quadruple jump in competition was Canadian Kurt Browning in 1988. In 2002, Miki Ando became the first woman to do so, and she remains one of only two women to have landed a ratified quadruple jump in competition.
Midori Ito
During the peak of her career, Ito performed much the same jump content as the top male skaters of the time. She was the first ladies' skater to perform a triple-triple jump combination and the first to perform the triple axel. In March 1990, Jill Trenary said, "I was in awe of how high she jumps." In 1990, Scott Hamilton said "it will be 50 years before we see anything like Midori Ito again," and Toller Cranston, the same year, noted that "she is beyond 6.0."