USA’s Amber Glenn gives honest answer on Olympic figure skating blunder

Amber Glenn will have an emotional Winter Olympic Games final competitive skate on Thursday night in Milan, after her dream of winning gold was shattered 48 hours ago in the opening segment of the women’s individual competition.

The three-peating United States national women’s champion for figure skating became the sixth woman ever to land a triple axel in competition at the Olympics.

If she finished her routine cleanly, there was a strong chance Glenn would be entering Thursday’s free skate as the leader in the clubhouse. She’d be one performance away from a gold medal.

Yet, in the final moments, a blunder knocked her off the podium and into 13th place. Glenn didn’t do the necessary triple jump as one of the final elements in her program, which cost her at least seven points. That one mistake turned Thursday from a legitimate chance at the top prize to Glenn needing a skate of her lifetime to even contend for the bronze medal.

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Speaking to reporters, Glenn, per usual, was raw and honest in her assessment of what occurred on Tuesday.

“I have to go out there, and they expect you to smile,” she said. “And they expect you to still perform like you’re having the time of your life when in reality your dreams were just smashed to pieces.”

Glenn did not hide her pain when it came to a routine that should have been remembered forever for her triple axel, which will now be forgotten due to a single rotational mistake.

She also reaffirmed that it wasn’t anything mental that led to the missed triple at the end, stating clearly it came down to her body being off balance on the jump.

Although a gold medal is all but out of the question, she sits in a similar situation to fellow American champion Nathan Chen back at the 2018 Olympics.

After a nightmare short program in which he fell multiple times, Chen felt free in his final performance, putting on a show that rocketed him up to 5th place. Four years later, he dominated the Beijing Games.

Glenn hopes to do something similar on Thursday night.