After years of trauma, U.S. stars are grateful skating is changing
MILAN — Amber Glenn thought her chance to compete in the Olympics was already lost. She was 9 years old.
“I wasn’t always considered one of the best,” Glenn said, “so I never thought I’d skate past 20 or anything like that, because you don’t usually see that.”
The 26-year-old skater, making her Olympic debut, jokes that she is “a dinosaur” in women’s singles skating. But as women’s figure skating ushers in a new era with a minimum age limit of 17, champions in their 20s could soon become common again.
The International Skating Union (ISU) raised the age limit for international competitions after the Beijing Olympics, when Kamila Valieva, then 15, was caught up in a doping scandal that rocked the Games. The teenager had failed a doping test before the Olympics, but was nevertheless allowed to compete because her age made her a “protected person” under the World Anti-Doping Code.
The appeals process lasted days. Valieva, who had helped the Russian Olympic Committee win a team gold medal before the positive sample came to light, was in the Olympic spotlight. She succumbed to the pressure during her individual event and left the ice in tears.
Four months later, the ISU announced the minimum age increase “in an effort to protect the physical and mental health and emotional well-being of skaters.” Valieva’s results, including the team gold medal, were retired in 2024.
NBC’s Johnny Weir called the ISU’s decision to raise the age limit “smart.” It also helps extend the careers of many high-profile women who previously only skated in one Olympic Games before a younger competitor took their place.
But the age limit doesn’t go far enough, said U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame coach Rafael Arutyunyan. If Valieva couldn’t be held fully responsible for the medications she took because she was a child, then she shouldn’t have been allowed to compete against adults, he argued. He believes the minimum age for women’s competitions should be 18.
American Alysa Liu competes in the women’s figure skating team event at the Winter Olympics in Milan on February 6.
(Stephanie Scarbrough / Associated Press)
“You are responsible after 18 years,” said Arutyunyan, who has coached stars such as Michelle Kwan and Mao Asada. “You compete when you are responsible for everything. »
As athletes progress in sport, growth spurts or puberty can interrupt athletic progression, especially when jumping. The increase in the age limit, along with the current ban on Russian athletes due to the ongoing war with Ukraine, could be one of the reasons for the lack of quadruple jumps among women during this latest Olympic cycle.
But the pressure to perfect skills and learn difficult jumps on still-growing joints can be detrimental for athletes. An ISU Athlete Commission survey found that injury prevention was the most common response from coaches, athletes and officials in favor of raising the age limit.
American star Alysa Liu says she is no longer strong enough to practice quad jumps. When the two-time Olympian was 14, she was the first American woman to land a quadruple jump. At age 12, she was the youngest person to land a triple axel in international competition. Today, the 20-year-old says she only practices three triple axes per day.
“We land on one leg on a quad, like it takes a lot of strength,” Liu said. “I’m not strong enough to maintain and train this without injuring myself. My muscles just can’t handle it.”
But Liu is even more successful now. The 2025 world champion returns to her second Olympics with a fresh and mature outlook after a two-year hiatus and has already helped the United States win a gold medal in the team event. She enters the individual event which begins Tuesday as a gold medal contender.
Since 20-year-old Kristi Yamaguchi’s gold medal in 1992, only one other woman in her 20s has won the Olympic title. In 2006, the Japanese Shizuka Arakawa, 24, was the oldest Olympic champion since 1920.
Glenn, the first woman since Kwan to win three national championships, could also challenge for the Olympic podium. She is one of only two women planning to perform a triple axel in their short programs on Tuesday, proving that technical prowess doesn’t stop with age.
“It’s more about the pressure you feel to push the bar and then prove that you can consistently deliver,” said NBC analyst Tara Lipinski, who was the youngest Olympic champion in history at age 15 in 1998. “It’s the cream that rises to the top because it’s the skater who is artistic, well-rounded and can technically provide things that maybe not everyone else is able to provide. [doing] with ease and under pressure.
It took time for Glenn to develop not only the physical tools but, more importantly, the mental tools for this step. Under constant scrutiny in a judged sport that often pits girls against each other from a young age, Glenn struggled with anxiety, depression and an eating disorder. She took a break from skating in 2015 to seek help at an inpatient facility. In 2019, she came out as bisexual and pansexual. The following season, she won her first national championship and gained as much attention for her mental health and LGBTQ+ rights advocacy as she did for her game-changing triple axel.
“I’m so grateful that I’ve been able to be in a place where I’m able to do this,” Glenn said, “because my physical and mental health are in good shape. I can’t even explain how difficult that has been to maintain.”
After her first national junior competitions at age 9 discouraged her from dreaming of the Olympics, Glenn is now the oldest American singles skater to make the Olympic team since 1928. She may be the second oldest Olympic champion of all time, behind first champion Madge Syers in 1908.
“I think it shows, especially some people who might be young and think, ‘Oh, it’s too late, people are so far ahead of me at this age,’ like you never know,” Glenn said. “Keep working towards your dreams, because eventually it can happen.”
