Team USA figure skater Amber Glenn has explained the truth behind her reaction to fellow Olympian Adeliia Petrosian’s fall during Thursday’s free skate.
In the second part of the individual women’s figure skating event at the Winter Olympics, Glenn had been sitting in the kiss-and-cry area after assuming first place following her free skate. However, when Petrosian — who had tumbled while attempting a quad toeloop — about to receive her scores, the camera panned over to Glenn, who was seen smiling.
The video quickly went viral on social media as people assumed Glenn was pleased with the skater messing up critical parts of her free skate.
Glenn went on to defend herself on X as she responded to someone who posted the video, writing, “I saw I was on camera and tried to smile but was uncomfortable bc I knew that the people next to me were upset….. What was I supposed to do?”
Petrosian — who competed as an “individual neutral athlete” due to Russia’s ban from the 2026 Olympics following its invasion of Ukraine — ended up finishing in sixth place and told reporters afterward that it would be “mentally hard” to return to her home country.
“Right now I’m just a bit ashamed for myself, the federation, the coaches, the spectators that it turned out like that,” she said.
As for Glenn, she was able to redeem herself from her low short program score by working her way from 13th place up to fifth, while her teammate Alysa Liu took home the gold medal, ending a 20-year drought for Team USA women in the individual figure skating competition.
Speaking to the press following her competition, Glenn said she was proud of her free skate despite missing the podium.
“There’s of course a lot going through my mind of just, ‘Oh my gosh, what if,’ but overall I’m happy with what I did today,” Glenn told reporters.
“Of course there were some small mistakes, but I felt I handled myself really well. There were many, many things that I was having to struggle with to get to where I am today in that performance. I’m really happy with the way I was able to conclude this Olympics.”
She also hinted that she likely would not be participating in the next Winter Olympics in 2030 at the French Alps.
“I don’t know how long I have left [skating],” she said. “So I’ll be kind of helping on the sidelines.”