US figure skater Amber Glenn has revealed she was subjected to a torrent of ‘attacks and hate’ after a dramatic error in the Winter Olympics left her in tears.
The 26-year-old, who is bisexual and pansexual and the first openly queer woman figure skater to compete for Team USA, broke down after her botched routine in the short program left her sitting 13th in Milan Cortina.
In Thursday night’s free skate, Glenn almost rescued a medal with a season-best performance that left her welling up with joy.
The three-time reigning U.S. champion recently said she is taking a break from social media after receiving a ‘scary amount of hate’ for condemning Donald Trump over his treatment of the LGBTQ+ community.
Now Glenn has revealed that she took even more abuse in the wake of her crucial error in the short program.
‘It wasn’t easy,’ Glenn said. ‘There’s been a bombardment of attacks and hate on me, using my lackluster performance as fuel for hate, and that was disheartening.’
Amber Glenn broke down in tears during the short program of the women’s figure skating
But the American bounced back with a fine performance during the free skate on Thursday
‘I’m ecstatic. I’m happy that I did my job,’ said Glenn, who ended up fifth in the standings
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Despite the backlash, Glenn rebounded in the free skate, earning a score of 214.91 -nearly the best of her long career. For a while, it put her top of the podium and on course for a second gold medal of the winter Games.
In the end, she finished fifth behind teammate Alysa Liu, Team USA’s first gold medalist for 24 years, and the Japanese trio of silver medalist Kaori Sakamoto, bronze medalist Ami Nakai and fourth-place finisher Mone Chiba.
‘I’m ecstatic. I’m happy that I did my job,’ said Glenn, who will still come away from the Olympics with a gold medal from the team event.
‘Of course there’s so much that I wish I could have done better, and there’s going to be so many “what ifs?” after this. But to tell myself that I did what I could, that’s enough.’
Glenn punched the air as her music came to a close before tears began to flow as her coach, Damon Allen, enveloped her in a hug. Then, when her score was revealed, both raised their arms in delight.
‘I just thought, “I’m going to do what I do best, which is enjoy skating,”‘ Glenn said, ‘and that´s what I did today.’
The 26-year-old was among the favorites in the individual event, having been consistently competing for the top step of the podium ever since the 2022 Beijing Games, when a positive COVID-19 test kept her out of the US championships and spoiled any chance of going.
Yet the outspoken LGBTQ+ activist was left fighting back tears Tuesday night, when a major mistake on a triple loop cost her so many points that she was in 13th place.
On Thursday, however, it wasn’t until Chiba finally took to the ice that Glenn was knocked from top spot. Liu followed the Japanese skater with her golden free skate, while Sakamoto and Nakai ultimately pushed Glenn down to fifth place in the final standings.
That didn’t stop Glenn from celebrating when Liu was crowned the Olympic champion. She immediately hopped onto the kiss-and-cry stand to raise her teammate’s hand in victory.
