Amber Glenn\u2019s first Winter Olympics ended with a season-best performance. That performance taking the Plano native from 13th place to finishing competition in fifth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI locked in, and I trusted in my training, and I did my job,\u201d Glenn said. I told myself, I’m going to enjoy this moment because I was so close to having that moment in the short program, and it just kind of slipped away from me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her resiliency came just days after a short program skate with a costly mistake.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite making a slight mistake on the last element, I decided to embrace all the hard work and determination that it took to even get to the games and be proud of all of that and enjoy it, and I think I did,\u201d Glenn said.<\/p>\n
So how did she bounce back? She said it was about not dwelling on the mistake, but thinking about the opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn’t really let myself process it until the individual event was over because I knew I still had a job to do,\u201d Glenn said.<\/p>\n
While she didn\u2019t win gold individually, she is taking home gold in the team event.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just so grateful for my teammates. We really came together, and we all did so much to earn this gold medal. Their continued encouragement of me, of course, was also so amazing. It\u2019s hard when it\u2019s not just an individual, it\u2019s everyone working towards it,\u201d Glenn said.<\/p>\n
She also said that during her time in Milan, it hasn\u2019t been lost on her that the next generation is looking at her dream coming true.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s so unique and so incredible because I never would have thought that I’d make it here, as that young girl, I idolized people from so many different places and from so many different backgrounds, and we didn’t know much about them.\u00a0They were this faraway figure, away in the distance, and I think that’s something.\u00a0That’s really different about the generation of athletes is we are more accessible, we’re more authentic, and we’re more personable,\u201d Glenn said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Glenn missed out on the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022 because she caught COVID-19. She has worked since then to make her Olympic debut with one word in mind: resilience. That, plus what she calls her super power: heart.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely think it’s both my superpower and my weakness.\u00a0I put my heart into everything I do, and it makes things so much more fruitful and so much more exciting when they go my way, but even more devastating when they don’t, because I am in it and I’m not going to do things.\u00a0It definitely makes things harder, but even more satisfactory when all that hard work and heart that I’ve put into whatever it is that I’m doing, especially skating, works out.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s what I am most proud of,\u201d Glenn said. \u00a0<\/p>\n
She also said she has felt the love and support from North Texas to Milan, which has helped carry her through it all.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn’t be where I am today without North Texas.\u00a0I grew up going all across the DFW area to different ice rinks, doing different shows, doing different things, and it was such an incredible experience getting to grow up and perform in Dallas for so long, and I wouldn’t be where I am without you guys,\u201d Glenn said.<\/p>\n
As far as another Olympic run? She said she doesn\u2019t know about that, but she does know for sure she\u2019s headed back to North Texas so that her fans can see her in person.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ll be there in Late April, early May, doing a show in Allen. So come on through. It\u2019s called Stars on Ice, Alyssa [Liu] will be there, all the Olympic athletes, on the figure skating team, will be there, so come say hi,\u201d Glenn said.<\/p>\n