Celebrity
Amber Glenn Shuts Down This Myth About Figure Skaters
The athlete is getting candid during her Olympics debut.
From Ice Princess to I, Tonya, you don’t need to look far for depictions of the cutthroat side of competitive figure skating. But first-time Olympian — and new gold medalist — Amber Glenn paints a kinder picture of the sport.
Chatting with Team USA alum Adam Rippon ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Glenn was asked to name a big misconception about the sport.
“That we’re catty bitches,” she said with a laugh. “I think that’s the number one misconception — and rightfully so, we kind of had the reputation for that. But I think over the last few years, we’ve really come together more as a family.”
Rippon, who co-hosts figure skating podcast The Runthrough, joked that makeup could be responsible for the catty assessment. “Exactly, like we all look like Regina George,” said Glenn. “But you know... we’re nice girls.”
Meet The Blade Angels
Indeed, Glenn’s friendship with her fellow skaters is one of the sweetest storylines surrounding this year’s Olympic Games. Glenn and teammates Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito are collectively known as the Blade Angels, a unified moniker they arrived at — how else? — by group chat vote, Liu recently told Olympics.com. (Other contenders included Powerpuff Girls and Babes of Glory.)
It’s a welcome change from the experience Glenn had growing up. As she recently shared with Time, she felt intense pressure at local competitions. “That was our normal. Our coaches would pit us against each other, and at 10 years old, we were forced to have this competitiveness and comparison — it’s so toxic,” she said.
While she has a positive relationship with her fellow skaters, she has sadly faced toxicity from hateful critics after acknowledging the “hard time” LGBTQ+ communities are facing in the current administration.
“I couldn’t believe the outlandish backlash I’ve received for just supporting people,” she recently told The New York Times. “And of course I have people supporting me and I’m not online right now because of it. But I’m going to keep speaking my truth. I’m gonna keep representing what I believe in and what I think all Americans believe in, which is freedom and being able to love and do what you want ... I hope we can keep going forward and be positive.”
Glenn’s comments come shortly after helping secure a gold medal for Team USA — her first Olympic medal ever. She’ll next skate in the individual competition starting on Feb. 17, per NBC.
