USA’s Amber Glenn and Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto are rivals on the ice.
They are two of the best figure skaters in the world, and both landed in Milan, Italy, with the same ultimate goal in mind: win women’s gold at the Winter Olympic Games.
But on Thursday night, it was more than a competition for Glenn, who stood up for Sakamoto during one of the lowest moments of her career.
The three-time world champion Sakamoto had already announced she would be retiring following the Olympics, and that this would be her final chance to win the coveted gold that has eluded her.
She was the favorite going into Thursday night, and one small mistake, similar to Glenn’s on Tuesday in the short program, ended her dreams of standing atop the podium.
Sakamoto let all her emotions go after the performance, sitting near the tunnel in the arena for a private moment.
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An Olympic broadcast camera captured the moment unfolding and attempted to get a close-up of the gold medal favorite crushed, but Glenn stepped in to protect the Japanese champion from the media at her most vulnerable.
“Dude I know it’s their job but they will get all up in your business when you clearly need space it’s wild,” Glenn posted on TikTok of a post showing her directing the cameraman away from the prone Sakamoto.
Glenn went through a similar situation on Tuesday, when she had a self-proclaimed “soul-crushing” blunder in her routine that kept her off the podium in Milan.
Sakamoto finished with bronze in Beijing in 2022 and now with silver in 2026. Although not confirmed, there are rumors that she could extend her career one more month to compete in the upcoming World Championships in Prague, Czechia.
