For Amber Glenn, the Milan Olympics have been a place where she has not only achieved glory but also been through a few difficult moments, whether it be on ice or on social media. The 26-year-old entered the women’s single skating with hopes to medal following her contribution in the team gold, but she fell to fifth place. However, she had a lot to talk about after the event.

During the post-event press conference, when Glenn was asked to reflect on her legacy following this Olympic performance, the three-time U.S. champion said, “I’m a fighter, and I’m resilient, and that you never know what’s going to happen because I never thought I’d even be here, and to be top five is incredible.”

Well, she entered the night in 13th place after a disastrous short program. Glenn almost had her medal hopes evaporated, but that didn’t make her give up, as she put up a free skating score of 147.52 points, soaring to fifth place with a total score of 214.91.

Her voice carried the weight of someone who had gone through something far more grueling than a figure skating program.

“You know, I have a little bit of all that. I was really proud of the performance I was able to put out today. Of course, there were some small mistakes, but I feel like I handled myself really well,” she said. “There were many, many things that I was having to struggle with to get to where I am today in that performance, but I’m really happy with how I was able to conclude this Olympics.”

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The entire Milan Winter Olympics hasn’t been very kind to Amber Glenn. During the press conference before the events, she was candid about how the LGBTQ+ community is having a “hard time” under President Donald Trump’s administration. These concerns also included the ongoing tension between the public and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

However, following her comments, there were many social media critics, making it difficult for the 26-year-old to stay on social media ahead of her events. From her side, there were zero regrets about the performance she delivered at the women’s single skating.

“I made myself find it. I told myself no matter what in that spiral, you’re going to look up and you’re going to say like, I’m at the Olympics, and I was really proud that I was able to do that,” she said.

Then, as the conversation turned to her teammates, Glenn, who has been labelled as the “mom of the group,” opened up about a bigger role than just being a solo competitor at the Milano MSK-Competition Rink.

“Yeah, what I said to Isabeau is that she looked so beautiful and that she had such determination and fight, and I was proud of her. And then Alysa, I was just saying how this is going to change the future for figure skating, and I really hope that all three of us can really work towards that. You know, Isabeau and Alysa are so young. They have many more years in figure skating if they choose to keep going, but I don’t know how long I have left, and so I’ll be kind of helping on the sidelines,” Glenn said.

“And I’m just really proud and happy of the legacy that they’re leaving on this sport, which is, you know, especially for Alysa, her story of taking a step back, mental health, I think can really attest to you never know what the journey to success is going to be. And I really hope that that can reach the skating community, is that it’s okay to take time.”

With questions turning towards her future, the 26-year-old didn’t reveal any specific time for her retirement, but confirmed that these are her final years of competition. So, talking about her experience in Milan, she had a simple request to the global audience.

“It’s hard to say because I can’t stand here and say, oh in four years I’m gonna, I’ll be 30. I’m lucky my body’s holding itself together right now, and it barely is. So I just, I really hope that going forward we can find a way to support our athletes, especially when it comes to online,” she said.

“There were some really disturbing things when it comes to all three of us U.S. athletes online, and you know, it’s hard to not see that stuff. So I really hope that we can work towards having a safer place for athletes, especially people that are young like Isabeau. I really hope that we can do something about that because it’s just really disappointing.”

So, with Glenn placing fifth, the podium saw Alysa Liu take first place, followed by Japanese rivals Kaori Sakamoto in second and Ami Nakai in third. But do you remember how dramatic the team event was for the 26-year-old?

Amber Glenn felt awful following her performance

Team USA had a close lead over Japan in the team event, but Amber Glenn’s performance, where she was only able to get 138.62 behind Kaori Sakamoto, who got 148.62, caused her team to fall behind in the standings.

This made her frustrated, as she said, “I feel guilty. My team performed so well, and I scored fewer points than they expected from me, and than I expected from myself.”

Glenn added, “I hope we can still win, but even if we do, I probably won’t feel like I deserve Olympic gold. And there’s another thing I feel guilty about: I’m very sorry for putting so much pressure on Ilia [Malinin]. I wanted to hold on to our lead. But unfortunately, I lost it. And now there’s nothing I can do except try my best in the individual event and support my team.”

Her confession came before Ilia Malinin’s performance, which eventually made Team USA the champions, but her acceptance showcased that Glenn always prioritized her team over anything.