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PLAN | | Holy salkow, Batman, Miki’s back! Yes, Japan’s very own Babe on Ice, Miki Ando, roared back to form in the opening event of the Grand Prix figure skating series, not only winning October’s Skate America competition in Connecticut, but overshadowing younger teen star Mao Asada, everybody’s current tip for greatness. Ando, of course, was panned after finishing a disappointing 15th at the Turin Olympics, but she’s lost a bit of chunkiness and taken her skating to a higher level; maybe now she will start to fulfill her promise. Next up on the calendar is the NHK Trophy from November 30 to December 3 in Nagano. Japan’s women skaters are hot right now. Catch them while you can. FV See sports listings for details.
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By
Fred Varcoe
Yuriko Ito
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At the Suzuki World Cup on April 17 and 18,
a unique Japanese champion will display her many talents and
show off her strength, stamina and poise. Yuriko Ito has the
agility and power of a gymnast and the guts of a marathon
runner, and she’s a professional in one of the most popular
sports in the world. Yet despite all these qualities, Ito
remains a relative unknown. She won’t be going to the
Athens Olympics and won’t pick up any million-dollar
commercials as a result of her success.
Ito is a competitive aerobics athlete, and she’s very,
very good. So good, in fact, that in 1999 she became the first
competitor ever to win the triple crown of international aerobics:
the Suzuki World Cup, the FIG Sports Aerobics World Championship,
and the World Aerobics Championship. Last year, the 35-year-old
failed to dislodge reigning champion Marcela Lopez of Brazil,
but she still managed to finish second. Ito also won the domestic
version of the cup (her tenth national title)—but it
wasn’t easy.
“Fifteen seconds into my performance, I damaged my knee
ligaments doing a splits jump,” Ito tells Metropolis.
“My leg was hanging off.” A slight exaggeration
perhaps, but she still managed to win the event, which qualified
her for the World Cup. The incident gives you an idea of the
dedication needed to succeed in a sport that seems to be begging
to be included in the Olympics. “One day, I hope it will
be,” Ito laments, realizing that her chance of becoming
an Olympian are pretty slender now. As part of the gymnastics
world, aerobics should be knocking on the door of the IOC,
but despite its obvious visual and athletic appeal, breaking
down that Olympic door is a tough task, particularly at a
time when many feel there are already too many sports in the
Games.
It also doesn’t help that there’s a split in the
organizing bodies of competitive aerobics, something the IOC
does not usually appreciate.
Ito is a 156-centimeter-tall bundle of energy, and she does
more in 1min, 45sec—the standard length of a competitive
aerobics routine—than most people do in a year of jumping
and jogging. For those who think aerobics is all about smiling
and leotards, think again. This is a tough sport and requires
absolute dedication, which is hard to come by for a minor
sport that attracts a fraction of the money and attention
of, say, marathon running or gymnastics. So what exactly is
competitive aerobics?
“Your performance is judged on both artistic and technical
points, like figure skating,” Ito explains. “Obviously,
a competitive athlete must be at a certain level and be able
to do certain things. You have to include 12 elements from
four groups: pushups, static strength, power and flexibility.”
In other words, they’re not just jumping around for the
fun of it. And while the events are choreographed to music
(as in ice skating and women’s gymnastic floor exercises),
it’s the technical side that is likely to earn points.
Ito’s strengths are her high kicks and superior leg movement.
The Aichi Prefecture native graduated from being an aerobics
instructor to being a competitive athlete after moving to
Tokyo. “There were plenty of competitions in Japan, so
it was easy to make the move,” she says. She was crowned
national champion for the first time in 1993, just four years
after becoming an aerobics instructor. Being champion in Japan
meant access to international events, and she hasn’t
looked back since. She moved first to San Diego and then to
New York, working as an instructor while competing in international
events, and in 1996 she became world champion for the first
time. “At first, competing was just like a hobby. I was
already an instructor, so I had a job, but I wanted to be
a real professional athlete. Now, I love the sport and I can
compete all over the world.”
In competitive aerobics, men and women basically do the same
thing, and there are mixed events (pairs, trios). Ito has
done some pair work with Atlanta Olympic gymnast Hikaru Tanaka,
but it wasn’t all smooth sailing. “He had great
gymnastic ability but he wasn’t used to dancing or using
music,” Ito recalls. “Also, aerobics is about consecutive
movement for a minute and 45 seconds and you can’t stop.
That was the hardest part for him.” And, of course, he
had to wear a different type of leotard. Like it or not, there
is a sexual element to the sport (for the men and women),
and Ito has noticed “strange guys with long lenses.”
But, she adds, “I’d rather be sexy than not be sexy.”
She has a strong female following in Japan, but no boyfriend.
She does, however, have kids—not her own, but in her
academy in Yokohama (yacademy@aol.com),
and when she eventually retires, she’ll try to coach
the next champion. “I hope young kids will choose aerobics
as their sport,” she says.
For now, Ito will continue bouncing on the world stage. “If
I have to retire, I want to be able to look back and know
I had some good years as an athlete.” Prospective boyfriends
may have to wait a little while longer.
The Suzuki World Cup takes place
at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on April 17 and 18. 1-17-1
Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku. 4/17, qualifiers, 10am-7pm; 4/18, finals,
10am-6pm, ¥1,000 (door), ¥945 (adv), children (elementary
and under) free. Tel: 03-5474-2111. Nearest stn: Sobu line,
Sendagaya stn, or Oedo line, Kokoritsu Kyogijo stn.
Courtesy of JSM Group
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