Amber Glenn, Plano Senior alumna and member of the U.S. figure skating team, competed  in the Women’s Singles Short Program on the 17th. After a disappointing performance, she placed 13th with a score of 67.39 after and will compete in the Women’s Singles Free Skate on the 19th. Both scores will be added up to decide the ranking of the Women’s Figure Skating event.  Additionally, she participated in the figure skating team event on the 8th, helping the U.S. win gold. Her most valuable achievement, however, goes beyond podiums and medals. 

As the oldest U.S. women’s singles skater to compete in the Olympics in nearly a hundred years, and the first openly LGBTQ+ women’s singles skater on Team USA, Glenn has become a pioneer and a model of perseverance, breaking barriers of what it means to be an Olympian. The journey of her identity and mental health has inspired a new generation of athletes to embrace their authentic selves.

Glenn was born in 1999, here in Plano. She began skating at the age of five at the Stonebriar Mall ice rink. It wasn’t until she watched Team USA figure skater Sarah Hughes win gold at the 2002 Olympics that Glenn began to pursue ice skating seriously. Getting started, though, was a challenge in and of itself. 

Glenn’s father, Richard, had to work extra shifts as a police sergeant for the Plano Police Department and her mother, Cathlene, had to work extra jobs, to support Glen in her skating journey.Her younger sister, Brooke, also helped through emotional support.

“I would say my family have been absolutely essential for me, and their sacrifices, I will never be able to repay, but they’re so supportive and so proud of me,” Glenn said in an interview with People Magazine in 2024.

Her family’s crucial sacrifices paid off as, within one year of skating, Glenn had landed the axel jump, the most challenging single-rotation jump in figure skating. By age eleven, she had landed all triple jumps except the axel. Glenn began to progress quickly, placing second in the novice category of the 2012 U.S. Championships, the most prestigious American ice skating competition. The following year, in 2013, Glenn competed at the junior level, placing seventh in the short program and sixth in the free skate for an overall fifth-place finish. However, a seemingly career-ending roadblock came a few seasons later.

In the 2015-16 season, she was admitted for inpatient treatment due to struggles with depression, an eating disorder, and her sexuality not being accepted. To prioritize her personal health, Glenn took a break to “reevaluate”. In February of 2016, she resumed her training after joining Peter and Darlene Cain, two prolific Australian figure skating coaches. While under the tutelage of the Cains, she met Timothy LeDuc, a fellow pupil of theirs who was also queer. With LeDuc by her side, she was able to feel more welcomed and seen in the world of ice skating, citing that coming out has “brought a weight off [her] shoulders.” The ice was no longer a place to skate, but a place to call home, where one can freely express themselves.

“My fear of not being accepted for who I am was what kept me from coming out sooner. But when I was interviewed by the Dallas Voice in December of 2019 about my teammate Timothy LeDuc, who is a big inspiration to me for the awareness he brings to the LGBTQ+ community as a gay man, it was because of him that I felt comfortable taking that last step out of the box to call myself a bisexual/pan sexual woman,” Glenn said in an interview with Team USA in 2021.

Three years later, Glenn competed in the 2019 CS U.S. Classic in Salt Lake City, winning bronze, marking her first senior international medal. She then competed in the 2020 U.S. Championships, placing a solid fourth. COVID then came in and locked down everything, including figure skating. This prompted a hiatus from training for Glenn. This was when Glenn began to learn the triple axel, a three-and-a-half rotational move and arguably one of the hardest feats in figure skating. She attempted it in the short program at the 2021 U.S. Championships, but failed it. Despite the failure, Glenn was able to earn her highest-ever placement at the event and first senior national medal, a silver. 

The question of representing Team USA came in 2021. Despite earning a higher medal, U.S. Figure Skating chose Karen Chen, who placed one spot behind Glenn; she was chosen as first alternate for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

“U.S. Figure Skating should go with a team that they know will go and get those three spots back. Whether that includes me or not, I’m all for it either way,” Glenn commented in an interview with Golden Skate the same year.

While a huge honor, it was a tough pill to swallow for Glenn after coming so close to skating on the world’s biggest stage. Despite this setback, she continued her hopes of competing in the Olympics.

From then on, Glenn began to accelerate into success. In the U.S. Championships, she went on to win in 2024, 2025, and 2026, along with a silver medal in 2021 and a bronze in 2023. To add on top of that, she won the World Team Trophy in 2023 and 2025. All this was enough to convince Team USA to finally name Glenn to the 2026 Winter Olympic team in January after her gold medal in the 2026 U.S. Championships.

“I fought for everything. I was very determined, regardless of how I felt, to fight for as many points as I could,” she said after finally being named to Team USA.

Through relentless mental and physical hardships, Glenn has persisted in achieving her dreams. Her multi-year journey shows her resilience, courage, and self-determination. The obstacles she has overcome, both on and off the ice, have shaped her not just as an ice skater but as a role model for those who don’t believe in themselves. After years of setbacks and sacrifices, Glenn can now proudly call herself a decorated Olympian. Her story inspires young athletes to believe in themselves and find success in their own way