And what of Glenn and the third U.S. woman, Isabeau Levito, eighth after the short program (70.84), seemingly a bit underscored? Levito’s facial expression when the scores were announced was one of consternation.
“I’m not really bothered,” she insisted Wednesday. “I don’t set goals like I need to hit 75. Figure skating is a subjective sport.”
Glenn knew her score would take a huge hit after reducing a planned triple loop jump to a double. She received no points for the element, which was required to be a triple.
Six of her previous seven attempts at the jump this season had earned her over six points. Even her lowest score of those seven, 3.59, would have moved her to seventh, under six points from third.
“It wasn’t the pressure that got me,” she said. “It was just a literal lack of balance. I tapped down on the spin (that immediately preceded the loop), which I never do, and I was like, ‘Oh, gosh.’ I just felt like my core wasn’t stable. I was a little bit noodlely.
“You can’t go back in time. You can’t fix it. They still expect you to smile, and they still expect you to perform like (you’re) having the time of your life when, in reality, your dreams are just smashed to pieces.”
She knows that even a flawless free skate won’t be enough to get back into medal range unless the leaders make a big mistake or several. She also knows what happened in the men’s free skate, when Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan jumped from fifth to first and Japan’s Shun Sato from ninth to third, thanks to multiple errors by short program top three Ilia Malinin of the U.S., Yuma Kagiyama of Japan and Adam Siao Him Fa of France.
“This Olympics shows you never know what is going to happen,” Glenn said.
Philip Hersh, who has covered figure skating at 13 straight Olympics, is a special contributor to NBCOlympics.com.
