Perfection was the bare minimum for Kaori Sakamoto in her final Olympic skate, and she started well with a double Axel and a triple flip. Unfortunately, she dropped the second jump in her triple combination and could not make up for it later. She finished 1.89 points short of Alysa Liu, who won the gold medal. The tears wouldn’t stop as the heartbroken Sakamoto sat on the sidelines. However, she received some much-needed support from fellow figure skater and competitor Amber Glenn.

As Sakamoto cried on the sidelines, Glenn, who had finished her skate, consoled her. The American knew the feeling all too well, having had a similar experience in the short program. As Glenn offered words of encouragement, the media came towards Sakamoto. They put a camera very close to her face, trying to capture her reaction. However, Glenn was livid. She immediately ordered the cameraman not to record and stood in front of the camera for a moment before returning to her seat. Glenn has doubled down on her criticism of the press.

“Dude, I know it’s their job, but they will get all up in your business when you clearly need space, it’s wild,” she commented under a fan-made TikTok which showed the entire incident. Even in the case of Glenn, many fans had a similar complaint with the broadcaster. When Glenn walked off in tears during her short program, the camera captured her closely. 

The NBC broadcast cameras zoomed in on Glenn’s face throughout her post-performance wait for the score. Many termed it ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘unnecessary,’ especially for an athlete with a history of depression and anxiety. NBC has already been under fire from Ilia Malinin.

When Malinin stumbled twice and finished 8th, he cited media pressure among the reasons behind his shaky mental state.

“All of this pressure, all of the media, and just being the Olympic gold hopeful was a lot,” Malinin immediately said after the result. “It was too much to handle.”

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However, the NBC president pushed back against Malinin’s comments, saying “everything is voluntary.” 

Regardless, it remains a hot-button issue throughout the sporting world. For example, American tennis star Coco Gauff’s video of her breaking the racket after losing the match went viral. She was heading back to the dressing room and trying to get away from the spotlight, but the cameras captured her reaction, regardless. 

“I tried to go somewhere where there were no cameras.” Gauff told reporters, “I kind of have a thing with the broadcast. I feel like certain moments. The same thing happened to Aryna [Sabalenka] after I played her in the final of the US Open. I feel like they don’t need to broadcast.”

It feels like everyone in the broadcasting world should take notice and make some changes to their broadcasting program. Athletes like Glenn, Malinin, and Sakamoto do not appreciate such close-up looks. At the same time, when things are going your way, the broadcasting voices further layer the performance. 

Amber Glenn earns high praise from NBC broadcasters after free skate redemption

Amber Glenn came into the free skate program on the back of severe disappointment — a 13th-place finish that drew heavy backlash online and from experts. In the free skate, she was nearly perfect. Skating to a medley that began with Audiomachine’s I Will Find You and moved into The Return, she opened with a triple Axel that drew applause.

Glenn, one of the two women to execute the triple axel on the Olympic ice in Milan, executed it flawlessly once again.

“That was one of the best triple axels I have ever seen from her,” Olympic gold medalist and commentator Tara Lipinski said.

She scored 147.52, with her only mistake coming on a triple loop, where she put her hand down on the landing. Combined with a short-program score of 67.39, her final mark was 214.91, placing her fifth overall.

“Total redemption,” Olympian and host Scott Hamilton said after her skate.

Glenn was delighted after her skate, punching the air and hugging her coach with a big smile on her face. 

“Just seeing her reaction there at the end, this was more than podiums or medals. This was for her to fight in this free skate. She wanted to have an Olympic skate that she enjoyed. I don’t know if she could have asked for a better one,” Lipinski said.

Even if it’s not an individual medal, she walks away from these Olympics with a team gold while earning the respect of millions of fans around the world.