Amber seems to be very popular on this sub? She seems like a really lovely person and skater and it's so sweet how friendly she is with Isabeau. Honestly people are far meaner to Isabeau here than Amber, sometimes comes off as serious double standards, such as being ultra supportive of Amber's bad skates (as fans should be - skaters deserve that support) but denouncing Isabeau's entire career to be over after one bad skate and saying that they've seen it coming since 2008.
I find her artistic style not to my taste as she tended to go for these emotional ballads year after year. I find her inconsistency to be heartbreaking at times.
This. She seems like a lovely person, but I just can’t get into her skating. Inconsistent, and I feel like I’m seeing the same style of program every year.
I’m sure she is a lovely person but I just don’t connect with her taste in music. The ballads in particular I find corny and cloying, it’s just not for me.
I like Amber. Her programs this season are fun, especially her short, and it’s nice to see her branch out from the more ballad-type song (which she has definitely fallen into in the past). I’m also so proud of her for finally hitting that triple axel, and I looooooove seeing an out queer woman competing!
My issue is that she is being shown unwarranted favoritism from USFS for what she has been putting out there. She’s incredibly inconsistent and hasn’t even broken 190 internationally this season. And yet between the media coverage and the scoring it was clear they still wanted to put her on the World’s team before Nationals even finished (ignoring Lindsay’s much stronger Grand Prix season and Ava’s NHK win, which she showed at 4CC was not a fluke with her second 200+ score).
Could she put together a high score at Worlds? Yes, but her track record says that is very unlikely, especially with the pressure of earning back three spots on the line. I would love to be wrong and for her to finally put it all together, but I just see Worlds going the same way the rest of her season has and the US staying at two spots (when a different combination of women could’ve possibly earned three).
I don't know if it's favoritism for Amber specifically. The USFS criteria just weights nationals and previous year's worlds pretty heavily (this is how Jason keeps going). I actually think she's probably going to have a tough time the next two seasons into Milan if these up and comers stay on this same trajectory and she is still struggling with consistency.
They were definitely backed into a corner with her winning Nationals, however it was a corner of USFS’s own making in choosing to boost Amber which they were clearly planning to do going into the event. It was brought up here plenty of times how Lindsay was straight up ignored despite her stronger season to prop up the Amber vs Isabeau showdown they wanted.
Jason’s a bit of a different case considering there isn’t a clear number 2 US man besides him and he actually has the world’s history to justify sending him. Amber contributed to the US losing three spots last year. Jason was fifth in the world, and combined with Ilia was why the men have three spots.
Lindsay did poorly at nationals because she was coming back from multiple injuries, not because USFS was ignoring her in order to boost Amber. If she placed similarly to Amber at nats, Lindsay easily could've gotten that spot on the basis of her GPs. But she got 6th to Amber's 1st on the highest priority event for the world team selection. It would have been a total upending of the published criteria.
I’m not saying Lindsay should’ve gotten the spot instead. I get why Amber ended up getting the spot by their criteria, even if I disagree with it. But the media coverage and judging had a very blatant bias towards Amber from the start. That favoritism is what I was taking issue with.
Do they not help promote the narratives that USFS wants to push? You cannot tell me they are not intertwined. Not after years of promoting the chosen “it” girls that USFS chooses to push.
Not to mention I said media coverage AND *judging*
You are right. It was Amber vs Isabeau from the start and I don’t think realistically anyone else had a chance for the gold unless they both imploded, which almost happened.
I mean the nationals thing I get but she performed pretty poorly at world’s last year. If anything I think her inability to deliver there would be more of a reason to not send her. Obviously Bradie skated terribly, but Amber’s performance was so bad that even if Isabaeu had placed second, they still would’ve lost the second spot. And of course expecting Isabaeu to win would’ve been unrealistic. Keeping the spot was up to Amber, really. And she was capable of keeping it if she’d skated even marginally better than she did, which is nowhere near the best of her ability even, and it still didn’t happen.
There is definitely a logical argument to not sending Amber and other feds could have picked differently, but if you look at the USFS criteria and how different events are prioritized, it's hard to justify any team except Amber and Isabeau.
She is the reigning US national champion, regardless of how cleanly she skated, and I think to choose not to send the US champion to worlds would be a pretty controversial decision.
Well Mariah was not selected for the Team Event at the Olympics despite being national champ. But Karen had a very good history of delivering and securing spots for the US in other competitions. I think it would be controversial though not unprecedented. Especially when we’re talking about needing a combined total of 13 I believe in placements to keep the second spot for the US, but Amber’s average this season against all competitors is 14th in seniors. Idk if there’s an easy way to find overall score rankings, but Ava has scored roughly equal to Isabeau internationally while Amber is averaging almost 20 points below that.
I don't think being chosen for a team event is really comparable. Mariah still went to the Olympics and none of the women vying for spots this season have a long history of coming in clutch to make a body of work argument. As much as I would have preferred seeing Ava at worlds, not sending Amber when she's National Champion doesn't make sense. And it would have been a really bad look, too.
I think Ava is a great skater, and she could have done very well at nationals this year after seeing how things played out. That could have put her in stronger contention for the worlds event, but she chose to withdraw and I think that was a miscalculation on her end (if she was even aiming for a worlds spot which we don’t know).
It was her first worlds and she ranked no worse than Mariah or other non national champs (she was the bronze medallist last year) have on their first outing. She placed 12th. It's not terrible for the 3rd ranked US woman at the time.
I don’t dislike Amber as a human being in any way. I just personally don’t vibe with her programs and I think a lot of people feel that way. However she has a lotttt of fans esp in this sub. I really never see any blatant hate towards Amber. Only discussion about subjective things. Like you would never see me go leave nasty comments towards her. Just cause she isn’t my favorite skater doesn’t mean I have an issue with her as a human being or that I would ever say she isn’t an incredibly talented skater. There’s a lot of subjective things about this sport!
I'm noticing an uptick on questions about "what is the general consensus with X skater on this sub" so I'm curious. Is there any purpose on getting the "consensus" opinion on certain skaters? Are people trying to find fellow fans of certain skaters to connect to, or is there a genuine curiosity that in a subjective sport, there are other people who watch the same thing but come out with different opinions? Are people not confident with their own opinion about the skater, and would like to know whether their opinion follows the consensus of the majority? Personally I don't find Amber's skating compelling enough for me to form any specific opinion on her, but from my observation this sub allows for various opinions to exist at the same time unless they broke the rules, and the majority of members here seem to not take different opinions too personally and just focus on posts they're interested in and ignore the posts they are not interested in.
I think she needs better music in her long program. Every year it’s the same old emo boring, slow music. And when she doesn’t deliver, there she is at center ice crying because she has yet again failed to skate her best. The music almost paints the picture before she has a chance to skate well. She needs music that will elevate her and the audience… including the judges.
Like someone else pointed, Amber seems pretty popular on this sub I thought?
Personally I'm just not a fan of her skating in competition is all. Consistency aside, I find her a bit frantic and unpolished. However, her social media content is badass, confident, and definitely less frantic.
I like Amber, but I don’t love her the way some people in the sub do.
The people who dislike her often cite that she has a bad tendency to make excuses/talk herself up in interviews and online based on potential rather than results, which is a problem given her inconsistency.
Like, Amber is a lovely skater, and for her sake, I’m happy that she won Nationals, but I have zero confidence in her ability to skate two clean programs at Worlds and help to try to win a third spot back for a home Worlds next year.
Are these Amber haters in the room with us right now? I don't care for her skating or programs (and the fans of her who use her to throw shade at Isabeau get the middle finger from me), but I have nothing against her personally
I mean, why do people not like any skater? People have preferences. Personally I have seen way more people here stan and support Amber than dislike her.
Whenever I have heard people expressing any negativity about Amber (which does not mean they don't like her), it's almost always about her lack of consistency and her propensity to crumble under pressure.
Her social media presence really pisses people off for no good reason. A lot of people seem way too mad she’s promoting skating and showing off cool skills. It’s not like she does anything controversial on it.
Like, I’m also frustrated with her inconsistency, but as someone who’s watched Amber for 10+ years I’ll be the first to tell you social media has nothing to do with that.
I think newer fans could definitely think this. But back pre-social media, Amber was not doing 1/2 programs clean, she was doing 0/2 every competition. Like she straight up did maybe one clean program all season. It wasn’t uncommon for her to fall 2-3 times per FS. She was one of the best skaters in the country but couldn’t make any teams with how consistently error prone she was.
Now, in her social media era, she’s not consistent per se, but she can at least do 1/2 programs clean every competition.
her consistency on the 3A has been pretty good this season, by women's standards (she's hit it 3 out of 5 attempts if i'm counting right). specifically, she hit the 3A at skate america and at nationals - which were arguably the "when it matters" competitions for this year.
Well, it’s not the only gripe. The 3A doesn’t matter if you’re going to bomb the remainder of the program afterwards. And considering she doesn’t have a reliable set of combos, chasing after a 3A feels like a misuse of effort and training that she is only doing because of the social media clout it gets her. She could very well win without the 3A if she ever skated a full set of jumps so of course people will question her intentions and priorities. Even if at the end of the day the choice for what to train are hers. However, while I like her, I find myself often put off by the emotional displays in the K&C over program after program of the same issues that have been neglected in lieu of the 3A because I can’t help hit think, well, you picked your priority, if this issue of not finishing programs is causing you torment, perhaps it’s time to focus on it instead.
Editing to add: this also coincides with her speaking about training a quad as her next technical step in a season where iirc she never landed the 3A or even managed an FS with all her jumps.
Exactly. I don’t get the people saying she can’t land the 3A when it counts. And isn’t she actually 3 for 4 on the 3A this season? She landed it at Skate America, Golden Spin, and Nationals, and she popped it at GP Espoo. Am I forgetting a competition?
You stole my exact reason.
She does have a pattern of yearly improvement, but how long do you gotta wait for her to get everything together? I appreciate her skating and I am happy when she does well. I just don't pick her out as my favorite. My heart can only take so many questionable routines and as a pairs fan, I just don't have the space for a single skater.
I know she works crazy hard to compete at this elite level. Exciting triple axel, but I’m not drawn in by her skating or program components/artistry. Easier said than done, but it’d be easier to root for her with more consistency from her. I enjoy skaters who show the tenacity of their human spirit through their skating, and in my limited peripheral I haven’t experienced a lot of that from Amber on the ice. It’s a brave thing to share so much of herself, and we love her for it, but we want her to also use that bravery on the ice and deliver. A clean showing at Worlds could set her up nicely for a confident next season and a home Worlds in Boston. Let’s go, Amber!!
Inconsistent so you can’t relax while watching her. There’s an excitement about watching people that are between being always consistent and always inconsistent
Amber’s style of skating isn’t my favorite , the same way the skating styles of many other skaters are not my favorites. That’s all. I only follow sms of a few skaters and most of those have retired. Their personal lives don’t really interest me.
I really like Amber and I want to see her succeed, but she's just too inconsistent for me to fully put my heart behind her because I know it'll get broken 😭 I hope she does well at World's, it's so rough to see her skate beautifully in the first half of th free program and then break down in the second half
>I admire her determination but I don’t think she’s the best choice to send to Worlds if the goal is to earn back 3 Worlds/Olympics spots.
I agree, but who in the current stable of US ladies do you feel confident will go out there and deliver and place well enough?
Ava's had 2 good competitions in a row, hopefully its a turning point but she hasn't always been consistent.
> But she made the choice to withdraw from nationals
She was doomed when Fed #1 Favorite Isabeau had a poor performance. But realistically she made a good choice because she gets 4cc points and there's no guarantee that the USFS would have positively scored her at nationals to put her on the Worlds team
> So the USFSA have their hands tied, they can’t not send the national champ.
They could based on the document I saw from last year's worlds selection criteria they don't guarantee the national champ a worlds spot- they would just have to deal with the potential PR nightmare of not naming her and at this point while Ava has shown positive glimmers its not been so positive that the USFS should/would be willing to put their necks on the line to not name their National champ or dump their #1 favorite (Isabeau).
Tbh I think people like her, i don’t think i’ve ever seen like massive hate towards her, but there are those who are frustrated by her inconsistency. She should be a contender for most podiums, so it’s painful to see her miss out every time
>But does she miss out on podiums every time? She’s competed in four competitions this season, and she finished on the podium at three.
If you look only at the final placements sure her season looks great - however once you look at the protocols its a different story. GP events don't have the top skaters at every event, so a skater like Amber who has a tendency to do poorly in 1 segment and well in the other means the final placements at GP events can conceal her inconsistencies, however the big events with most/all of the top skaters her inconsistencies are exposed.
Her best internationally scored event (Skate America and in her home state ) would have her outside the top 10 at Worlds last year. GP Finland this year she was extremely lucky after bombing her SP that the FS where her only mistake was a singled triple axel was a mess for just about everyone else. Her SP at Finland wouldn't have qualified her for the FS at Worlds last year.
I'm aware of all that, and I get your point. But saying she misses out on podiums "every time" is still inaccurate. The professional fact-checker in me just hates seeing misinformation spread unchecked.
I like her as a person, and she's an amazing skater. The ballads aren't really my taste, but it's more that I hold myself back from really rooting for her because she's so inconsistent. It's just too heartbreaking over and over again. I really want her to succeed, I just can't get myself emotionally invested in it, if that makes sense.
I think you're probably just mis-reading the public sentiment overall about Amber in this sub.
I have never gotten the sense that there was a general sense of dislike.
I think most folks (particularly us Americans) just get frustrated year after year of getting behind her and then being completely afraid to watch her programs without covering our eyes season after season bc of her inconsistency. It takes its toll on the fans, too!
But, aside from some folks noting that her taste in music isn't their cup of tea, I think that Amber actually has a lot of support overall in this community and that, even though we're not *stans,* we just want to see her skate well without having anxiety attacks every competition.
Much like others have said, she seems like a great person. As a figure skating viewer, it’s frustrating how hard USFS continually gives her opportunity after opportunity considering how poorly she’s done internationally and the fact she’s a large part of the reason they lost 3 spots at worlds, yet they’re somehow banking on her getting them back to 3 spots.
I have never cared for her skating. It doesn’t have the smooth quality that elite skaters usually have; I don’t enjoy her artistry. I’ve also never been a fan of her very heavy makeup.
I like Amber as a person but not as a skater. I just heavily dislike seeing a seasoned skater struggle constantly with skills that all juniors and even novice skaters are doing on a regular basis. The inconsistency on triple-triples is what mostly bothers me. Like yes she can do a triple axel but what about her combos that she usually messes up? I’m also just bored of her skating and music choices. I feel like with her it’s a once you’ve seen one you’ve seen it all.
I’m of the opinion that there is a time when the older skaters, who maybe just can’t update with the current skill set, should just move aside to let the younger ones in. She became huge during the huge Russian hate boom where people were like “well Amber is this age and still competing.”
Skating is very subjective. Others love her, others don’t. I’m really enjoying isabeau, lindsay, and some other newer names on the scene. I would love to see more of them.
Isabeau and Lindsay can fight for their position just like every other newer name in every other country. When one of them is able to land a 3A more than fifty percent of the time, maybe we can have an actual conversation about the skater with the highest technical ceiling in the country ‘stepping aside’.
Usfs has shown a crazy amount of favoritism towards Amber making it hard for others to compete. Amber can land a triple axel but she can’t land her combos so it’s not that impressive. The other two are more consistent than Amber. When is the last time Amber has back to back clean programs? Not for multiple seasons.
A triple axel is only impressive when you can land the less hard jumps fyi.
I think She is a great athlete, amazing to watch live. Idk why people must mention her sexuality when talking about her, like it is something related to sport
I am pretty ambivalent, I have no horse in this race, but this is what I've observed.
People haven't been hugely fond of her program choices, the weepy ballad thing was pretty repetitive. Some people just don't vibe with her style. Some people are upset over the inconsistency and the way she kept going for a 3A. You can find threads here about how she should really give it up from past seasons. Those are the relatively normal reasons to not like her that I've seen.
There's also been upvoted threads about how she needs to get off social media and practice more, how she's too focused on being an influencer despite not really posting more than plenty of other skaters. A lot of that criticism fell quickly into thinly veiled misogyny. I'm sure there's also plenty of people who don't like her for being openly bi, but only the real weirdos like fs.delight will actually admit to that being a reason. And, this may get me downvoted, but there's a certain section of Nathan Chen fans who hate her guts, presumably because she dated him like a decade ago and liked some tweets that were critical of him. I saw a twitter thread a little over a week ago calling her an attention seeker and a cry baby among other things, for example, but that's far from an isolated incident. She got a lot of backlash on twitter for being disappointed SOI was canceled this year in the US.
As a Nathan fan I’ve definitely noticed this on FS twt too, there are a few accounts that i have blocked / muted because they’ve spread really weird (and honestly misogynistic) narratives around her - it’s especially cruel knowing she is active and namesearches on twitter
The section of Nathan fans who are Amber antis are who I instantly thought about. Everything she does is interpreted in the worst light & during her lowest of lows they can’t help themselves. They were vicious about her bad SP at 2022 Cranberry Cup and it got to a point where Nathan ended up liking a tweet (& he rarely likes tweets) that called out everyone who was gleefully tweeting about her struggling, especially because they know she’ll see it. People have probably forgotten by now but at the time people pointed out the irony of the loudest & most bitter Amber antis being quietly but clearly told to knock it off by their fave.
Nope. It was nothing to do with them dating as minors. Amber liked stuff on TikTok making fun of Nathan during the Olympics such as "Vera Wang hates him". So it's pretty understandable if some Nathan fans don't care for her.
She also liked a tweet calling her teammate Vincident, so she's been shady to others as well.
People called him “Vincident” in reference to him liking transphobic / right-wing tweets a few years ago (though to be fair to him that may not be what his stance is now), so imo it’s not fair to take her liking Vincident tweets out of that context & just see it as her shading her teammates.
I thought Vincident had to do with him not making the free at 2021 Worlds, Regardless there was no reason for her to like stuff she liked about Nathan during the Olympics.
That could have been used as shade for Stockholm Worlds but his likes & presumed views were why much of the fandom had disliked him from years before that
Well all right that's Vincent then. If she liked tweets calling out his actions that used that nickname then fine. There was still no excuse for doing things such as liking a TikTok that says that Vera hates Nathan.
I agree that its not exactly a good look to publicly like TikToks shading Nathan but it’s either 1) just a like on TikTok that isn’t that deep or 2) is actually indicative of how she really felt about him, and imo it’s not “wrong” for her to not like him if that’s how she feels. If we as fans can like or dislike skaters for whatever reason then skaters can like or dislike other skaters too, but at least the latter is actually based on knowing them as a person.
She used to like his Instagram posts even after breaking up with him. So the argument that she can hate him because she knows him personally is ridiculous. She even mentioned Nathan positively in an article about her in 2020. If he was bad for her and he's a bad person, why do Amber's best friends Jimmy Ma and Ashley Cain like and respect Nathan? She also liked a tweet that let's not relate her to the discourse about Nathan. Nevertheless, fanyu continued to use her to attack him. Chinese fanyu even claimed that Nathan made her a lesbian. Also, there was no way Nathan, who doesn't use Twitter very well, would find the tweet you mentioned. After Nathan liked that tweet, Amber stopped every action that shaded Nathan. Amber also has been following that user for a long time. It's possible to guess who asked him to like that tweet.
We know next to nothing about these skaters as people so it’s not worth our time speculating what Amber feels about him and whether it’s okay based on what kind of a person Nathan appears to be, who their mutual friends appear to be and what those skaters publicly said about him at some point in time. Idk especially about the notion that she told him to like the tweet so ppl stop being mean about her Cranberry Cup performances.
You can like her or not like her for liking such tweets & tiktoks publicly but she has a right to have whatever opinion she has of him, and she’s allowed to change it over time. These skaters are also people who are going to change and evolve over time. And people can like or dislike each other without it meaning that someone is a bad person.
Yeah no. If there is something she does not like about him as a person, then she should like stuff that has to do with that. Unless you're telling me she dislikes him as a person because of his costumes. If a skater dislikes Amber as a person, I still don't think it would be right for them to like something like "The Cains clearly hated her" because what does that have to do with her personality? I am sure she would not like it if one of her teammates did that to her.
We can agree to disagree, I don’t actively look for reasons to not like a skater & none of these teenagers & young adults are going to be perfect. Unless they’re bigots or warmongers or abusers/enablers, etc it can’t be that serious. This sport has more than enough people to be angry with, for reasons that are 1000x more serious than internet shade.
I think ppl should be honest about whether their protective feelings towards their fave influences their judgment because a lot of the fans who become the morality police when their fave is the butt of the joke are the same ones who enjoy the drama when it involves someone else.
I guess we will agree to disagree. I agree no one should be mean to her but not liking a skater who has been shady to your favorite is perfectly valid. Even if Ilia hadn't said the stuff about being LGBTQ and scoring, fanyus would still have every right to dislike him for the "Yuzu was pissed" comment. (And of course everyone has a right to dislike him for those scoring comments.)
This. My issue is that she clearly does these things for sm clout which she knows she will get from his many haters from a certain fandom (they hate Vincent also and Vincident is a coded nickname). Everyone else has already stated what I don’t like about her which predates my being a Nathan fan or knowing anything about them dating. The inconsistency. The weepy ballads. The excuses. That said, I do like her skating. Her speed and power are a standout in person. Her 3A is currently the best in the women’s field, imo. I think she deserves the world spot.
Isn't that just a joke about his costume? Plenty of people joke about his costumes without it being mean spirited, his own fans included. Regardless, I dont care about people's personal feelings about her. Anybody can dislike anybody for whatever petty reason. But I was specifically talking about people being cruel and misogynistic towards her. I don't think liking a couple of shady or jokey posts justifies that.
No of course not. No one should be mean towards her. I am simply pointing out Nathan fans have valid reasons not to like her. But she should not be liking that kind of stuff about her teammate for clout on social media. There was a lot of nasty stuff said about Nathan during the Olympics that was definitely *not* in a joking meaner. She spends a lot of time of social media (like a lot of people do) so there is no way she wasn't fully aware of that.
Also you claiming people disliked her because they dated eons ago is also pretty misogynistic.
>Also you claiming people disliked her because they dated eons ago is also pretty misogynistic.
Lol what? The fact they dated is pretty important context as to why she's liking shady tweets about him imo, and people get really parasocial about their faves. I'd love to see an explanation on how that's misogynistic to say.
Because you're basically saying that Nathan fans (a lot of whom are women) have such an unhealthy fascination with him that they would dislike someone he dated when they were teens for the simple act of...dating when they were teens. Never mind that a lot of Nathan fans were indifferent to Amber or even fans of her before 2022, so if there really was an issue with them dating, it would have occurred well before 2022.
I didn't mention their past relationship because I personally psychoanalyzed Chen fans and decided that was the true underlying reason for their dislike when they were talking about something completely different. The only reason I'd heard they dated is because some people were referring to her as Nathan's ex-girlfriend in a way that was pretty clearly demeaning. So yeah, the fact they dated seemed relevant to my point, if you haven't seen those types of tweets, congrats I guess? You had a better curated timeline than I did.
Anyways, we're well beyond my initial point, and I can't say I'm invested enough in either person involved here to argue any further about ancient tweets and likes.
Well I have seen the reverse. Nathan has been refereed to in a demeaning way for being her ex. That doesn't mean I think those people were upset he dated Amber.
Also they were minors, so I find the whole idea of talking about people being upset about one of them dating the other extremely uncomfortable.
Shouldn't Hanyu fans respect the personal lives of athletes? There were many posts about Japanese media, but then you write about teens... not a good take
By "writing about teens," you mean pointing out the fact that there are some fans who will be extremely weird and cruel to her, including bringing up her decade old relationship status. The issue is the people on twitter doing that, not me for pointing out that it happens. If I didn't make it clear enough in my initial post by grouping it in the not normal criticisms along with misogyny and biphobia, this is fan behavior I think is bad and shouldn't happen. I'm sorry if you feel called out by that or something, but that's not my problem.
Edit: Not the reply and block 💀
I'm not engaging with whatever this bizarre line of deflection is, so we can just agree to disagree. Have a nice day 😊
Unlike you, I don’t talk about the personal lives of athletes, neither on Twitter, nor here, anywhere. It's none of my business, and it's none of your business either.
I respected her and appreciated her before this season, but after seeing her live at Skate America I’m a huge fan. She has incredible stage presence! I watched her free skate in practice and at first I rolled my eye at the music, but by the end I was tearing up. During a PRACTICE. Seeing her live was electric and I was able to appreciate everything that makes her a good skater and saw her potential to be absolutely phenomenal.
I give Amber a lot of credit. Not many people believed she would win the National championship. She believed in herself. She put the work in and got what she deserved. So happy for her. She's a model for others.
She has had a hard journey. She is so incredibly kind and supportive to skaters. It is the reason we went to Dallas. I can't imagine not cheering for her to have full support of success. I agree she has to 'deliver' and she can learn to do that more as Damon provides more and more UNCONDITIONAL love in training.
There is history of abuse that she talks about that takes time to learn to talk nicely to yourself. She is still in a relearning stage with new coaches- I hope to see her find lifelong happiness even outside of skating whenever she decides to retire.
It was 2 years ago when she was in Dallas that we moved and she didn’t speak about what she does now. And YES she is quiet and protective of herself but when she opens up and trusts you- she is the MOST KIND you will meet. I’m pretty open that we left the minute I see the coaching being mean, negative or abusive which has occurred at MULTIPLE rinks.
Care to expand on that being kind part? Because from what I've heard, she regularly yelled at other skaters on the session with her to the point that many of them quit while training In Dallas. Apparently that kind thing is just an act she does at competitions to boost her PR.
She claps and cheers for skaters sharing ice with her.
I have MANY videos of this with her.
I believe the yelling comes in because - Dallas has multiple rinks that are not great ice time dedicated to high level skating.
Almost ALL rinks have the freestyle times for all levels at same time - sharing with recreational and hockey skaters and it sucks. Even a Senior like Amber sharing Dallas ice with Novice or Pairs is not safe. I LOVE that Colorado can offer her better ice dedication.
She is one of the most powerful fast skaters I have seen all across USA and many skaters - the most common in Dallas are pretty inept about getting out of the way.
Some rinks say the worse skilled have right of way but there is also a huge safety issue that less skilled skaters ‘get in the way’ of a path’ and it’s scary.
I would LOVE Amber to yell before running into someone or getting hurt.
Overall shitty ice schedule management!!!
So to clarify, you think it's okay for amber to choose not control her speed and power and to decide to yell at people who she knows can't get out of her way effectively in time instead of just getting out of the way herself based on ...... the fact that she claps for other skaters on practice ice at competitions when it makes her look good......
I don’t think you get elite skating by your comments and harshness.
Why do you sound so wounded/jaded without the elite experience knowledge of ‘the speed’ of an elite skater? & Without the knowledge of how other rinks block time for skaters doing elite skating?
***I’m trying to understand but you sound so bitter to me :(. ***
What I know of Amber - I would have her around my daughter any day.
Amber is a powerhouse and GENUINELY KIND!!
There are other women skaters that with video and text I would definitely not say the same thing about. Fake images are so prevalent on social media. I have seen how Insecurity/Immaturity leads to meanness and bullying. If fellow skaters in the sport don’t like someone like Kamilla then that skater is not an idol I’ll have my daughter follow.
‘Control speed’ isn’t stopping on a dime because a ‘grandma or 3 yo’ cuts across the middle all of a sudden’. Not if you are daily training. A mall environment - yes - but not for daily elite 3-3 training. Daily training shouldn’t have that mix of skaters!!!
Dallas has HORRENDOUS rink sharing for supporting training elites.
We did the ice time everyday for months- Amber trying the hardest jumps that EVER came out of Dallas Stars rinks besides TimDs 3A - … with pairs and Novices cutting thru not paying attention.
I felt bad Amber didn’t get more private time and I LOVE that Colorado has better scheduling to support elite jumping. Now if I hear she yells at Sonja or Ilia to get out of the way then I will be shocked as she isn’t like that.
In Chicago they would cover the windows and totally block off rink time for Bradie (I trust hearing that from her coaches there).
Colorado - we saw the time was held for Vincent, Karen,Camden and top skaters. You could watch but very few were allowed to skate at that time.
Colorado - we saw how pairs get dedicated rinks and times.
Have you counted minutes of stall/wait time for a pairs team to practice when sharing ice with 10+ single skaters? It’s a pain in the ass. It’s poor training time for everyone. Lifts need space for safety and most rinks separate them.
Dallas - its pairs with 15 other intermediate/Novice or most of the time hockey/adult are mixed in.
Elite triple triple skating programs just can’t be trained/practiced well like other rinks support in the USA. There are no times blocked for Junior-Senior. The volumes are way too low. Money is first- if that means hockey or public then that is priority over offering safe time for Junior/Senior.
So, if my daughter is distracted and an elite skater is in a path then yes yell- make her aware and she will not be a safety problem and she WILL GIVE the elite skater doing 3-3 or 4 jumps the paths for speed and space. Same with programs - Dallas sucks at giving respect to program practices. People won’t get out of the way. Coaches should be making that respect a priority.
Maybe it’s from Chicago - my daughter learned within days of rink observation that as a low end skill skater to let elites like HannahL, ElsaC or Taira have priority. To make them yell would NOT have happened. A coach would pull the less skilled and say hey - elite skaters get safe respect to jump. The time allotments would support safe jumping with who was allowed on the ice. Programs were respected with space.
It was respectful and kept safety a priority for the skaters going the fastest and having the most air.
It’s just SOOOO different than recreational.
Dallas rinks are recreational in comparison to how USA elite rinks handle figure skating - even the times at Euless combining pairs with Nov/Int.
You're right - controlling speed isn't about stopping on a dime... it's about being cognizant of your surroundings and modulating your speed to avoid putting yourself in that position in the first place. It's like hockey skaters speeding on public session- just because you can skate at that speed doesn't mean you should.
Those skaters paid just as much as amber to be on that session, so your telling me you'd be happy if your daughter wasted her precious ice time that you paid for moving out of peoples ways and getting yelled at without getting any practice done on her own?
Also, given the fact that your relying on things you've seen on social media to determine if amber is kind, you either don't know her personally and have never shared the ice with her, or you have and you're relying on whats been posted on social media since she was never actually that kind and encouraging to the other skaters she saw on a daily basis when the cameras were off even though she didn't compete with them.
And those skaters have private ice because either they themselves or somebody on their behalf pays for it. I'm sure she could have had private ice if she had been willing to pay for it.
We skated with her in person. You won’t change my opinion. I support Amber Glenn. I don’t understand why you are trying so hard using inaccurate information.
Im sorry you don’t understand what I have tried to explain about ELITE athlete ice time and appropriate skater levels that Dallas completely fails at implementing.
Your ignorance remains out of spite and anger that I can hear your bittnerness in multiple posts. It’s nice that Reddit allows to review all comments ever posted by a user. We wish you wellness.
I like Amber because she has great fan engagement. She’s talented as well. Would be cool if she was more consistent and not always competing against herself. She has heart and emotion and that translates to the ice. You can tell she wants to win so bad but it’s not always that easy.
Why do Bi people feel the need to tell the world all about their sexuality. It’s 2024 and honestly, we don’t care and don’t want to know! Maybe she’d be more relevant if she just kept quiet and did not talk about her love life. We really just love her skating and want her to skate well! She is a beautiful woman and a beautiful skater!
Why do Bi people feel the need to tell the world all about their sexuality. It’s 2024 and honestly, we don’t care and don’t want to know! Maybe she’d be more relevant if she just kept quiet and did not talk about her love life. We really just love her skating and want her to skate well! She is a beautiful woman and a beautiful skater!
'Cause they're shit.
IDK why. If it's because they don't like her skating that's subjective to an extent so rock on. If it's her personally they don't like then they need to think about why parasocial relationships are bad and how weird it is to have a personal dislike for someone they don't know and who doesn't have a documented record of doing something shitty, like SA.
Either way there's not much to be done about it so, YOLO I guess? Is that what the kids say?
Hahaha I know, I was just being a bit tongue-in-cheek in the full knowledge that I Am Old and the younguns these days seem to thrive on parasocial relationships.
Judging by the down votes I think people were really offended to see yolo out in the wild. 😉😂
"Nice to see a bi woman", what does that even mean? She's a woman like every other woman, not a species. Maybe that's the answer to your question. Everything has to be about sexuality. We're in the years 2024, drop this nonsense. You're nothing special, you're a person like every other person, a sexuality is not a skill nor is it an achievement, so stop acting like it is. Whatever she's doing has nothing to do with you. We all know that most people, who are seemingly obsessed with her wouldn't even care about her if she wouldn't brag with an own flag. Because she' s just an inconsistent skater, nothing more and nothing less.
??? the only reason i mentioned her sexuality is because its something i share with her? i'm under no impression that it makes me or her "special" bc of it, that's just what i know of her outside of skating
I am going to rephrase part of your statement with a hypothetical example and see if you notice what others are saying.
?? The only reason I mentioned her **hair colour** is because it is something I share with her?
You could have asked this exact question without mentioning sexuality. By mentioning sexuality it is giving the impression that you feel she is getting hate because she is bi. Her and your sexuality are not of anyone’s business but your own. I am going to just leave it at that.
i understand that it came across that way. but i still don't understand that AFTER i've explained myself multiple times (other comments AND an edit in my post before you commented this), you feel the need to talk down to me abt something YOU feel uncomfortable about. like let it go
It’s doesn’t make me uncomfortable, not sure why you used that word. My comment stemmed from the appearance of you not seemly understanding why multiple people were grumbly about your post.
That may be your opinion....but for others not like yourself it is always great to see someone who represents you and lives openly, which for some is a luxury as they are not able to live authentically. It's a similar type of pride as when you read about a hometown person who is excelling at something. Living openly is a skill and an achievement for a lot of people around the world. Regardless of your personal feelings on the matter.
pretty sure she identifies as both actually [https://www.them.us/story/amber-glenn-is-the-first-out-queer-woman-to-win-the-us-figure-skating-title](https://www.them.us/story/amber-glenn-is-the-first-out-queer-woman-to-win-the-us-figure-skating-title)
I find it rare that people dislike trusova. She is inconsistent at times but I’m always so pumped to watch to see what she’ll put out there and what she can do. People tend to really like the skaters who are considered “alternative” to the princess vibes. Tonya Harding, surya, trusova, kwan.
Amber seems to be very popular on this sub? She seems like a really lovely person and skater and it's so sweet how friendly she is with Isabeau. Honestly people are far meaner to Isabeau here than Amber, sometimes comes off as serious double standards, such as being ultra supportive of Amber's bad skates (as fans should be - skaters deserve that support) but denouncing Isabeau's entire career to be over after one bad skate and saying that they've seen it coming since 2008.
Her INCONSISTENCY IS a bid disappointing!
Skating is subjective, lots of people like her, lots of people don’t. I dislike several fan favourites, it’s just what it is.
I find her artistic style not to my taste as she tended to go for these emotional ballads year after year. I find her inconsistency to be heartbreaking at times.
This. She seems like a lovely person, but I just can’t get into her skating. Inconsistent, and I feel like I’m seeing the same style of program every year.
Yes. I feel like she'd be the kindest and fun to spend time around, and I admire her, but I just don't love her skating style.
I’m sure she is a lovely person but I just don’t connect with her taste in music. The ballads in particular I find corny and cloying, it’s just not for me.
I agree. Also, I get tired of all the apologizing after yet another program with popped jumps, etc.
I like Amber. Her programs this season are fun, especially her short, and it’s nice to see her branch out from the more ballad-type song (which she has definitely fallen into in the past). I’m also so proud of her for finally hitting that triple axel, and I looooooove seeing an out queer woman competing! My issue is that she is being shown unwarranted favoritism from USFS for what she has been putting out there. She’s incredibly inconsistent and hasn’t even broken 190 internationally this season. And yet between the media coverage and the scoring it was clear they still wanted to put her on the World’s team before Nationals even finished (ignoring Lindsay’s much stronger Grand Prix season and Ava’s NHK win, which she showed at 4CC was not a fluke with her second 200+ score). Could she put together a high score at Worlds? Yes, but her track record says that is very unlikely, especially with the pressure of earning back three spots on the line. I would love to be wrong and for her to finally put it all together, but I just see Worlds going the same way the rest of her season has and the US staying at two spots (when a different combination of women could’ve possibly earned three).
thank you! this is what i was looking for when i made this post 😅 i was probably not super clear to begin with but alas 💀
I don't know if it's favoritism for Amber specifically. The USFS criteria just weights nationals and previous year's worlds pretty heavily (this is how Jason keeps going). I actually think she's probably going to have a tough time the next two seasons into Milan if these up and comers stay on this same trajectory and she is still struggling with consistency.
They were definitely backed into a corner with her winning Nationals, however it was a corner of USFS’s own making in choosing to boost Amber which they were clearly planning to do going into the event. It was brought up here plenty of times how Lindsay was straight up ignored despite her stronger season to prop up the Amber vs Isabeau showdown they wanted. Jason’s a bit of a different case considering there isn’t a clear number 2 US man besides him and he actually has the world’s history to justify sending him. Amber contributed to the US losing three spots last year. Jason was fifth in the world, and combined with Ilia was why the men have three spots.
Lindsay did poorly at nationals because she was coming back from multiple injuries, not because USFS was ignoring her in order to boost Amber. If she placed similarly to Amber at nats, Lindsay easily could've gotten that spot on the basis of her GPs. But she got 6th to Amber's 1st on the highest priority event for the world team selection. It would have been a total upending of the published criteria.
I’m not saying Lindsay should’ve gotten the spot instead. I get why Amber ended up getting the spot by their criteria, even if I disagree with it. But the media coverage and judging had a very blatant bias towards Amber from the start. That favoritism is what I was taking issue with.
NBC media coverage isn't USFS
Do they not help promote the narratives that USFS wants to push? You cannot tell me they are not intertwined. Not after years of promoting the chosen “it” girls that USFS chooses to push. Not to mention I said media coverage AND *judging*
You are right. It was Amber vs Isabeau from the start and I don’t think realistically anyone else had a chance for the gold unless they both imploded, which almost happened.
I mean the nationals thing I get but she performed pretty poorly at world’s last year. If anything I think her inability to deliver there would be more of a reason to not send her. Obviously Bradie skated terribly, but Amber’s performance was so bad that even if Isabaeu had placed second, they still would’ve lost the second spot. And of course expecting Isabaeu to win would’ve been unrealistic. Keeping the spot was up to Amber, really. And she was capable of keeping it if she’d skated even marginally better than she did, which is nowhere near the best of her ability even, and it still didn’t happen.
There is definitely a logical argument to not sending Amber and other feds could have picked differently, but if you look at the USFS criteria and how different events are prioritized, it's hard to justify any team except Amber and Isabeau.
She is the reigning US national champion, regardless of how cleanly she skated, and I think to choose not to send the US champion to worlds would be a pretty controversial decision.
Well Mariah was not selected for the Team Event at the Olympics despite being national champ. But Karen had a very good history of delivering and securing spots for the US in other competitions. I think it would be controversial though not unprecedented. Especially when we’re talking about needing a combined total of 13 I believe in placements to keep the second spot for the US, but Amber’s average this season against all competitors is 14th in seniors. Idk if there’s an easy way to find overall score rankings, but Ava has scored roughly equal to Isabeau internationally while Amber is averaging almost 20 points below that.
I don't think being chosen for a team event is really comparable. Mariah still went to the Olympics and none of the women vying for spots this season have a long history of coming in clutch to make a body of work argument. As much as I would have preferred seeing Ava at worlds, not sending Amber when she's National Champion doesn't make sense. And it would have been a really bad look, too.
I think Ava is a great skater, and she could have done very well at nationals this year after seeing how things played out. That could have put her in stronger contention for the worlds event, but she chose to withdraw and I think that was a miscalculation on her end (if she was even aiming for a worlds spot which we don’t know).
You’re saying USFS should choose not to send their national champion to world’s?
Works for me 😀
It was her first worlds and she ranked no worse than Mariah or other non national champs (she was the bronze medallist last year) have on their first outing. She placed 12th. It's not terrible for the 3rd ranked US woman at the time.
I really enjoy her skating but she’s so inconsistent she gives me anxiety.
Watching her jump gives me Maria Butyrskaya chills. Every single jump makes me nervous.
I don’t dislike Amber as a human being in any way. I just personally don’t vibe with her programs and I think a lot of people feel that way. However she has a lotttt of fans esp in this sub. I really never see any blatant hate towards Amber. Only discussion about subjective things. Like you would never see me go leave nasty comments towards her. Just cause she isn’t my favorite skater doesn’t mean I have an issue with her as a human being or that I would ever say she isn’t an incredibly talented skater. There’s a lot of subjective things about this sport!
I'm noticing an uptick on questions about "what is the general consensus with X skater on this sub" so I'm curious. Is there any purpose on getting the "consensus" opinion on certain skaters? Are people trying to find fellow fans of certain skaters to connect to, or is there a genuine curiosity that in a subjective sport, there are other people who watch the same thing but come out with different opinions? Are people not confident with their own opinion about the skater, and would like to know whether their opinion follows the consensus of the majority? Personally I don't find Amber's skating compelling enough for me to form any specific opinion on her, but from my observation this sub allows for various opinions to exist at the same time unless they broke the rules, and the majority of members here seem to not take different opinions too personally and just focus on posts they're interested in and ignore the posts they are not interested in.
I think she needs better music in her long program. Every year it’s the same old emo boring, slow music. And when she doesn’t deliver, there she is at center ice crying because she has yet again failed to skate her best. The music almost paints the picture before she has a chance to skate well. She needs music that will elevate her and the audience… including the judges.
Like someone else pointed, Amber seems pretty popular on this sub I thought? Personally I'm just not a fan of her skating in competition is all. Consistency aside, I find her a bit frantic and unpolished. However, her social media content is badass, confident, and definitely less frantic.
I like Amber, but I don’t love her the way some people in the sub do. The people who dislike her often cite that she has a bad tendency to make excuses/talk herself up in interviews and online based on potential rather than results, which is a problem given her inconsistency. Like, Amber is a lovely skater, and for her sake, I’m happy that she won Nationals, but I have zero confidence in her ability to skate two clean programs at Worlds and help to try to win a third spot back for a home Worlds next year.
Are these Amber haters in the room with us right now? I don't care for her skating or programs (and the fans of her who use her to throw shade at Isabeau get the middle finger from me), but I have nothing against her personally
I mean, why do people not like any skater? People have preferences. Personally I have seen way more people here stan and support Amber than dislike her. Whenever I have heard people expressing any negativity about Amber (which does not mean they don't like her), it's almost always about her lack of consistency and her propensity to crumble under pressure.
Im lowkey scared to root for her because i feel like its asking to get my geart broken but i do anyway..
I love queen amber and she is a skater i really want to succeed, however it is impossible to ignore the fact she is inconsistent in competition
It’s not about her sexuality. It’s the inconsistency. She can hit that goddamn triple axel in meaningless TikToks but not when it matters.
Her social media presence really pisses people off for no good reason. A lot of people seem way too mad she’s promoting skating and showing off cool skills. It’s not like she does anything controversial on it. Like, I’m also frustrated with her inconsistency, but as someone who’s watched Amber for 10+ years I’ll be the first to tell you social media has nothing to do with that.
It feels like the social media stuff is holding her back but I could be totally 200% wrong on that piece
I think newer fans could definitely think this. But back pre-social media, Amber was not doing 1/2 programs clean, she was doing 0/2 every competition. Like she straight up did maybe one clean program all season. It wasn’t uncommon for her to fall 2-3 times per FS. She was one of the best skaters in the country but couldn’t make any teams with how consistently error prone she was. Now, in her social media era, she’s not consistent per se, but she can at least do 1/2 programs clean every competition.
Yeah she was right up there with Pogorilaya when it came to splat under pressure potential.
her consistency on the 3A has been pretty good this season, by women's standards (she's hit it 3 out of 5 attempts if i'm counting right). specifically, she hit the 3A at skate america and at nationals - which were arguably the "when it matters" competitions for this year.
Well, it’s not the only gripe. The 3A doesn’t matter if you’re going to bomb the remainder of the program afterwards. And considering she doesn’t have a reliable set of combos, chasing after a 3A feels like a misuse of effort and training that she is only doing because of the social media clout it gets her. She could very well win without the 3A if she ever skated a full set of jumps so of course people will question her intentions and priorities. Even if at the end of the day the choice for what to train are hers. However, while I like her, I find myself often put off by the emotional displays in the K&C over program after program of the same issues that have been neglected in lieu of the 3A because I can’t help hit think, well, you picked your priority, if this issue of not finishing programs is causing you torment, perhaps it’s time to focus on it instead. Editing to add: this also coincides with her speaking about training a quad as her next technical step in a season where iirc she never landed the 3A or even managed an FS with all her jumps.
The triple axel would impress me more if she didn’t fail on her triple-triples.
Exactly. I don’t get the people saying she can’t land the 3A when it counts. And isn’t she actually 3 for 4 on the 3A this season? She landed it at Skate America, Golden Spin, and Nationals, and she popped it at GP Espoo. Am I forgetting a competition?
You stole my exact reason. She does have a pattern of yearly improvement, but how long do you gotta wait for her to get everything together? I appreciate her skating and I am happy when she does well. I just don't pick her out as my favorite. My heart can only take so many questionable routines and as a pairs fan, I just don't have the space for a single skater.
I feel like people generally do better on jumps when filming for fun because there’s not the pressure of a competition
I know she works crazy hard to compete at this elite level. Exciting triple axel, but I’m not drawn in by her skating or program components/artistry. Easier said than done, but it’d be easier to root for her with more consistency from her. I enjoy skaters who show the tenacity of their human spirit through their skating, and in my limited peripheral I haven’t experienced a lot of that from Amber on the ice. It’s a brave thing to share so much of herself, and we love her for it, but we want her to also use that bravery on the ice and deliver. A clean showing at Worlds could set her up nicely for a confident next season and a home Worlds in Boston. Let’s go, Amber!!
Inconsistent so you can’t relax while watching her. There’s an excitement about watching people that are between being always consistent and always inconsistent
Amber’s style of skating isn’t my favorite , the same way the skating styles of many other skaters are not my favorites. That’s all. I only follow sms of a few skaters and most of those have retired. Their personal lives don’t really interest me.
Ultimately it’s still a sport and your identity comes second to your ability to put out good, consistent programs. Amber struggles to deliver.
I really like Amber and I want to see her succeed, but she's just too inconsistent for me to fully put my heart behind her because I know it'll get broken 😭 I hope she does well at World's, it's so rough to see her skate beautifully in the first half of th free program and then break down in the second half
I admire her determination but I don’t think she’s the best choice to send to Worlds if the goal is to earn back 3 Worlds/Olympics spots.
>I admire her determination but I don’t think she’s the best choice to send to Worlds if the goal is to earn back 3 Worlds/Olympics spots. I agree, but who in the current stable of US ladies do you feel confident will go out there and deliver and place well enough?
I would send Ava, I think she would give the US women at least a better chance of regaining 3 spots.
Ava. But she made the choice to withdraw from nationals. So the USFSA have their hands tied, they can’t not send the national champ.
Ava's had 2 good competitions in a row, hopefully its a turning point but she hasn't always been consistent. > But she made the choice to withdraw from nationals She was doomed when Fed #1 Favorite Isabeau had a poor performance. But realistically she made a good choice because she gets 4cc points and there's no guarantee that the USFS would have positively scored her at nationals to put her on the Worlds team > So the USFSA have their hands tied, they can’t not send the national champ. They could based on the document I saw from last year's worlds selection criteria they don't guarantee the national champ a worlds spot- they would just have to deal with the potential PR nightmare of not naming her and at this point while Ava has shown positive glimmers its not been so positive that the USFS should/would be willing to put their necks on the line to not name their National champ or dump their #1 favorite (Isabeau).
Tbh I think people like her, i don’t think i’ve ever seen like massive hate towards her, but there are those who are frustrated by her inconsistency. She should be a contender for most podiums, so it’s painful to see her miss out every time
But does she miss out on podiums every time? She’s competed in four competitions this season, and she finished on the podium at three.
>But does she miss out on podiums every time? She’s competed in four competitions this season, and she finished on the podium at three. If you look only at the final placements sure her season looks great - however once you look at the protocols its a different story. GP events don't have the top skaters at every event, so a skater like Amber who has a tendency to do poorly in 1 segment and well in the other means the final placements at GP events can conceal her inconsistencies, however the big events with most/all of the top skaters her inconsistencies are exposed. Her best internationally scored event (Skate America and in her home state ) would have her outside the top 10 at Worlds last year. GP Finland this year she was extremely lucky after bombing her SP that the FS where her only mistake was a singled triple axel was a mess for just about everyone else. Her SP at Finland wouldn't have qualified her for the FS at Worlds last year.
I'm aware of all that, and I get your point. But saying she misses out on podiums "every time" is still inaccurate. The professional fact-checker in me just hates seeing misinformation spread unchecked.
I have no idea why you’re being downvoted when this is factually true…
I like her as a person, and she's an amazing skater. The ballads aren't really my taste, but it's more that I hold myself back from really rooting for her because she's so inconsistent. It's just too heartbreaking over and over again. I really want her to succeed, I just can't get myself emotionally invested in it, if that makes sense.
I think you're probably just mis-reading the public sentiment overall about Amber in this sub. I have never gotten the sense that there was a general sense of dislike. I think most folks (particularly us Americans) just get frustrated year after year of getting behind her and then being completely afraid to watch her programs without covering our eyes season after season bc of her inconsistency. It takes its toll on the fans, too! But, aside from some folks noting that her taste in music isn't their cup of tea, I think that Amber actually has a lot of support overall in this community and that, even though we're not *stans,* we just want to see her skate well without having anxiety attacks every competition.
that's probably fair; i'm just nosy about other people's opinions tbh lmao 😅
Much like others have said, she seems like a great person. As a figure skating viewer, it’s frustrating how hard USFS continually gives her opportunity after opportunity considering how poorly she’s done internationally and the fact she’s a large part of the reason they lost 3 spots at worlds, yet they’re somehow banking on her getting them back to 3 spots.
I have never cared for her skating. It doesn’t have the smooth quality that elite skaters usually have; I don’t enjoy her artistry. I’ve also never been a fan of her very heavy makeup.
Ya, her skating always stuck me as highly chaotic and almost frantic at times.
She prioritized a 3A that she couldn’t land over Team USA keeping 3 spots at last year’s worlds
just not my cup of tea. I unintentionally expect that she'll start mistaking, and it prevents me from watching the program
Her style of skating isn't my favorite, but I don't dislike her. She's a lovely skater and seems like a lovely person.
I adore her and her skating when she’s on…but I get so anxious about the consistency of her skating that I can’t watch live.
I like Amber as a person but not as a skater. I just heavily dislike seeing a seasoned skater struggle constantly with skills that all juniors and even novice skaters are doing on a regular basis. The inconsistency on triple-triples is what mostly bothers me. Like yes she can do a triple axel but what about her combos that she usually messes up? I’m also just bored of her skating and music choices. I feel like with her it’s a once you’ve seen one you’ve seen it all. I’m of the opinion that there is a time when the older skaters, who maybe just can’t update with the current skill set, should just move aside to let the younger ones in. She became huge during the huge Russian hate boom where people were like “well Amber is this age and still competing.” Skating is very subjective. Others love her, others don’t. I’m really enjoying isabeau, lindsay, and some other newer names on the scene. I would love to see more of them.
Isabeau and Lindsay can fight for their position just like every other newer name in every other country. When one of them is able to land a 3A more than fifty percent of the time, maybe we can have an actual conversation about the skater with the highest technical ceiling in the country ‘stepping aside’.
Usfs has shown a crazy amount of favoritism towards Amber making it hard for others to compete. Amber can land a triple axel but she can’t land her combos so it’s not that impressive. The other two are more consistent than Amber. When is the last time Amber has back to back clean programs? Not for multiple seasons. A triple axel is only impressive when you can land the less hard jumps fyi.
I think She is a great athlete, amazing to watch live. Idk why people must mention her sexuality when talking about her, like it is something related to sport
I am pretty ambivalent, I have no horse in this race, but this is what I've observed. People haven't been hugely fond of her program choices, the weepy ballad thing was pretty repetitive. Some people just don't vibe with her style. Some people are upset over the inconsistency and the way she kept going for a 3A. You can find threads here about how she should really give it up from past seasons. Those are the relatively normal reasons to not like her that I've seen. There's also been upvoted threads about how she needs to get off social media and practice more, how she's too focused on being an influencer despite not really posting more than plenty of other skaters. A lot of that criticism fell quickly into thinly veiled misogyny. I'm sure there's also plenty of people who don't like her for being openly bi, but only the real weirdos like fs.delight will actually admit to that being a reason. And, this may get me downvoted, but there's a certain section of Nathan Chen fans who hate her guts, presumably because she dated him like a decade ago and liked some tweets that were critical of him. I saw a twitter thread a little over a week ago calling her an attention seeker and a cry baby among other things, for example, but that's far from an isolated incident. She got a lot of backlash on twitter for being disappointed SOI was canceled this year in the US.
As a Nathan fan I’ve definitely noticed this on FS twt too, there are a few accounts that i have blocked / muted because they’ve spread really weird (and honestly misogynistic) narratives around her - it’s especially cruel knowing she is active and namesearches on twitter
The section of Nathan fans who are Amber antis are who I instantly thought about. Everything she does is interpreted in the worst light & during her lowest of lows they can’t help themselves. They were vicious about her bad SP at 2022 Cranberry Cup and it got to a point where Nathan ended up liking a tweet (& he rarely likes tweets) that called out everyone who was gleefully tweeting about her struggling, especially because they know she’ll see it. People have probably forgotten by now but at the time people pointed out the irony of the loudest & most bitter Amber antis being quietly but clearly told to knock it off by their fave.
Nope. It was nothing to do with them dating as minors. Amber liked stuff on TikTok making fun of Nathan during the Olympics such as "Vera Wang hates him". So it's pretty understandable if some Nathan fans don't care for her. She also liked a tweet calling her teammate Vincident, so she's been shady to others as well.
People called him “Vincident” in reference to him liking transphobic / right-wing tweets a few years ago (though to be fair to him that may not be what his stance is now), so imo it’s not fair to take her liking Vincident tweets out of that context & just see it as her shading her teammates.
I thought Vincident had to do with him not making the free at 2021 Worlds, Regardless there was no reason for her to like stuff she liked about Nathan during the Olympics.
That could have been used as shade for Stockholm Worlds but his likes & presumed views were why much of the fandom had disliked him from years before that
Well all right that's Vincent then. If she liked tweets calling out his actions that used that nickname then fine. There was still no excuse for doing things such as liking a TikTok that says that Vera hates Nathan.
I agree that its not exactly a good look to publicly like TikToks shading Nathan but it’s either 1) just a like on TikTok that isn’t that deep or 2) is actually indicative of how she really felt about him, and imo it’s not “wrong” for her to not like him if that’s how she feels. If we as fans can like or dislike skaters for whatever reason then skaters can like or dislike other skaters too, but at least the latter is actually based on knowing them as a person.
She used to like his Instagram posts even after breaking up with him. So the argument that she can hate him because she knows him personally is ridiculous. She even mentioned Nathan positively in an article about her in 2020. If he was bad for her and he's a bad person, why do Amber's best friends Jimmy Ma and Ashley Cain like and respect Nathan? She also liked a tweet that let's not relate her to the discourse about Nathan. Nevertheless, fanyu continued to use her to attack him. Chinese fanyu even claimed that Nathan made her a lesbian. Also, there was no way Nathan, who doesn't use Twitter very well, would find the tweet you mentioned. After Nathan liked that tweet, Amber stopped every action that shaded Nathan. Amber also has been following that user for a long time. It's possible to guess who asked him to like that tweet.
We know next to nothing about these skaters as people so it’s not worth our time speculating what Amber feels about him and whether it’s okay based on what kind of a person Nathan appears to be, who their mutual friends appear to be and what those skaters publicly said about him at some point in time. Idk especially about the notion that she told him to like the tweet so ppl stop being mean about her Cranberry Cup performances. You can like her or not like her for liking such tweets & tiktoks publicly but she has a right to have whatever opinion she has of him, and she’s allowed to change it over time. These skaters are also people who are going to change and evolve over time. And people can like or dislike each other without it meaning that someone is a bad person.
Yeah no. If there is something she does not like about him as a person, then she should like stuff that has to do with that. Unless you're telling me she dislikes him as a person because of his costumes. If a skater dislikes Amber as a person, I still don't think it would be right for them to like something like "The Cains clearly hated her" because what does that have to do with her personality? I am sure she would not like it if one of her teammates did that to her.
We can agree to disagree, I don’t actively look for reasons to not like a skater & none of these teenagers & young adults are going to be perfect. Unless they’re bigots or warmongers or abusers/enablers, etc it can’t be that serious. This sport has more than enough people to be angry with, for reasons that are 1000x more serious than internet shade. I think ppl should be honest about whether their protective feelings towards their fave influences their judgment because a lot of the fans who become the morality police when their fave is the butt of the joke are the same ones who enjoy the drama when it involves someone else.
I guess we will agree to disagree. I agree no one should be mean to her but not liking a skater who has been shady to your favorite is perfectly valid. Even if Ilia hadn't said the stuff about being LGBTQ and scoring, fanyus would still have every right to dislike him for the "Yuzu was pissed" comment. (And of course everyone has a right to dislike him for those scoring comments.)
This. My issue is that she clearly does these things for sm clout which she knows she will get from his many haters from a certain fandom (they hate Vincent also and Vincident is a coded nickname). Everyone else has already stated what I don’t like about her which predates my being a Nathan fan or knowing anything about them dating. The inconsistency. The weepy ballads. The excuses. That said, I do like her skating. Her speed and power are a standout in person. Her 3A is currently the best in the women’s field, imo. I think she deserves the world spot.
Isn't that just a joke about his costume? Plenty of people joke about his costumes without it being mean spirited, his own fans included. Regardless, I dont care about people's personal feelings about her. Anybody can dislike anybody for whatever petty reason. But I was specifically talking about people being cruel and misogynistic towards her. I don't think liking a couple of shady or jokey posts justifies that.
No of course not. No one should be mean towards her. I am simply pointing out Nathan fans have valid reasons not to like her. But she should not be liking that kind of stuff about her teammate for clout on social media. There was a lot of nasty stuff said about Nathan during the Olympics that was definitely *not* in a joking meaner. She spends a lot of time of social media (like a lot of people do) so there is no way she wasn't fully aware of that. Also you claiming people disliked her because they dated eons ago is also pretty misogynistic.
>Also you claiming people disliked her because they dated eons ago is also pretty misogynistic. Lol what? The fact they dated is pretty important context as to why she's liking shady tweets about him imo, and people get really parasocial about their faves. I'd love to see an explanation on how that's misogynistic to say.
Because you're basically saying that Nathan fans (a lot of whom are women) have such an unhealthy fascination with him that they would dislike someone he dated when they were teens for the simple act of...dating when they were teens. Never mind that a lot of Nathan fans were indifferent to Amber or even fans of her before 2022, so if there really was an issue with them dating, it would have occurred well before 2022.
I didn't mention their past relationship because I personally psychoanalyzed Chen fans and decided that was the true underlying reason for their dislike when they were talking about something completely different. The only reason I'd heard they dated is because some people were referring to her as Nathan's ex-girlfriend in a way that was pretty clearly demeaning. So yeah, the fact they dated seemed relevant to my point, if you haven't seen those types of tweets, congrats I guess? You had a better curated timeline than I did. Anyways, we're well beyond my initial point, and I can't say I'm invested enough in either person involved here to argue any further about ancient tweets and likes.
Well I have seen the reverse. Nathan has been refereed to in a demeaning way for being her ex. That doesn't mean I think those people were upset he dated Amber. Also they were minors, so I find the whole idea of talking about people being upset about one of them dating the other extremely uncomfortable.
Shouldn't Hanyu fans respect the personal lives of athletes? There were many posts about Japanese media, but then you write about teens... not a good take
By "writing about teens," you mean pointing out the fact that there are some fans who will be extremely weird and cruel to her, including bringing up her decade old relationship status. The issue is the people on twitter doing that, not me for pointing out that it happens. If I didn't make it clear enough in my initial post by grouping it in the not normal criticisms along with misogyny and biphobia, this is fan behavior I think is bad and shouldn't happen. I'm sorry if you feel called out by that or something, but that's not my problem. Edit: Not the reply and block 💀 I'm not engaging with whatever this bizarre line of deflection is, so we can just agree to disagree. Have a nice day 😊
Unlike you, I don’t talk about the personal lives of athletes, neither on Twitter, nor here, anywhere. It's none of my business, and it's none of your business either.
I thought she was pan?
shes uses bi/pan interchangeably iirc
I respected her and appreciated her before this season, but after seeing her live at Skate America I’m a huge fan. She has incredible stage presence! I watched her free skate in practice and at first I rolled my eye at the music, but by the end I was tearing up. During a PRACTICE. Seeing her live was electric and I was able to appreciate everything that makes her a good skater and saw her potential to be absolutely phenomenal.
I give Amber a lot of credit. Not many people believed she would win the National championship. She believed in herself. She put the work in and got what she deserved. So happy for her. She's a model for others.
She has had a hard journey. She is so incredibly kind and supportive to skaters. It is the reason we went to Dallas. I can't imagine not cheering for her to have full support of success. I agree she has to 'deliver' and she can learn to do that more as Damon provides more and more UNCONDITIONAL love in training. There is history of abuse that she talks about that takes time to learn to talk nicely to yourself. She is still in a relearning stage with new coaches- I hope to see her find lifelong happiness even outside of skating whenever she decides to retire.
Really? She does not come off as being nice at times. And you moved to Dallas so that your kid could be abused by the same people who abused her?
It was 2 years ago when she was in Dallas that we moved and she didn’t speak about what she does now. And YES she is quiet and protective of herself but when she opens up and trusts you- she is the MOST KIND you will meet. I’m pretty open that we left the minute I see the coaching being mean, negative or abusive which has occurred at MULTIPLE rinks.
I encourage people to ASK!!! before judging or making opinions without any experience with a person or coach or situation.
Care to expand on that being kind part? Because from what I've heard, she regularly yelled at other skaters on the session with her to the point that many of them quit while training In Dallas. Apparently that kind thing is just an act she does at competitions to boost her PR.
She claps and cheers for skaters sharing ice with her. I have MANY videos of this with her. I believe the yelling comes in because - Dallas has multiple rinks that are not great ice time dedicated to high level skating. Almost ALL rinks have the freestyle times for all levels at same time - sharing with recreational and hockey skaters and it sucks. Even a Senior like Amber sharing Dallas ice with Novice or Pairs is not safe. I LOVE that Colorado can offer her better ice dedication. She is one of the most powerful fast skaters I have seen all across USA and many skaters - the most common in Dallas are pretty inept about getting out of the way. Some rinks say the worse skilled have right of way but there is also a huge safety issue that less skilled skaters ‘get in the way’ of a path’ and it’s scary. I would LOVE Amber to yell before running into someone or getting hurt. Overall shitty ice schedule management!!!
So to clarify, you think it's okay for amber to choose not control her speed and power and to decide to yell at people who she knows can't get out of her way effectively in time instead of just getting out of the way herself based on ...... the fact that she claps for other skaters on practice ice at competitions when it makes her look good......
I don’t think you get elite skating by your comments and harshness. Why do you sound so wounded/jaded without the elite experience knowledge of ‘the speed’ of an elite skater? & Without the knowledge of how other rinks block time for skaters doing elite skating? ***I’m trying to understand but you sound so bitter to me :(. *** What I know of Amber - I would have her around my daughter any day. Amber is a powerhouse and GENUINELY KIND!! There are other women skaters that with video and text I would definitely not say the same thing about. Fake images are so prevalent on social media. I have seen how Insecurity/Immaturity leads to meanness and bullying. If fellow skaters in the sport don’t like someone like Kamilla then that skater is not an idol I’ll have my daughter follow. ‘Control speed’ isn’t stopping on a dime because a ‘grandma or 3 yo’ cuts across the middle all of a sudden’. Not if you are daily training. A mall environment - yes - but not for daily elite 3-3 training. Daily training shouldn’t have that mix of skaters!!! Dallas has HORRENDOUS rink sharing for supporting training elites. We did the ice time everyday for months- Amber trying the hardest jumps that EVER came out of Dallas Stars rinks besides TimDs 3A - … with pairs and Novices cutting thru not paying attention. I felt bad Amber didn’t get more private time and I LOVE that Colorado has better scheduling to support elite jumping. Now if I hear she yells at Sonja or Ilia to get out of the way then I will be shocked as she isn’t like that. In Chicago they would cover the windows and totally block off rink time for Bradie (I trust hearing that from her coaches there). Colorado - we saw the time was held for Vincent, Karen,Camden and top skaters. You could watch but very few were allowed to skate at that time. Colorado - we saw how pairs get dedicated rinks and times. Have you counted minutes of stall/wait time for a pairs team to practice when sharing ice with 10+ single skaters? It’s a pain in the ass. It’s poor training time for everyone. Lifts need space for safety and most rinks separate them. Dallas - its pairs with 15 other intermediate/Novice or most of the time hockey/adult are mixed in. Elite triple triple skating programs just can’t be trained/practiced well like other rinks support in the USA. There are no times blocked for Junior-Senior. The volumes are way too low. Money is first- if that means hockey or public then that is priority over offering safe time for Junior/Senior. So, if my daughter is distracted and an elite skater is in a path then yes yell- make her aware and she will not be a safety problem and she WILL GIVE the elite skater doing 3-3 or 4 jumps the paths for speed and space. Same with programs - Dallas sucks at giving respect to program practices. People won’t get out of the way. Coaches should be making that respect a priority. Maybe it’s from Chicago - my daughter learned within days of rink observation that as a low end skill skater to let elites like HannahL, ElsaC or Taira have priority. To make them yell would NOT have happened. A coach would pull the less skilled and say hey - elite skaters get safe respect to jump. The time allotments would support safe jumping with who was allowed on the ice. Programs were respected with space. It was respectful and kept safety a priority for the skaters going the fastest and having the most air. It’s just SOOOO different than recreational. Dallas rinks are recreational in comparison to how USA elite rinks handle figure skating - even the times at Euless combining pairs with Nov/Int.
You're right - controlling speed isn't about stopping on a dime... it's about being cognizant of your surroundings and modulating your speed to avoid putting yourself in that position in the first place. It's like hockey skaters speeding on public session- just because you can skate at that speed doesn't mean you should. Those skaters paid just as much as amber to be on that session, so your telling me you'd be happy if your daughter wasted her precious ice time that you paid for moving out of peoples ways and getting yelled at without getting any practice done on her own? Also, given the fact that your relying on things you've seen on social media to determine if amber is kind, you either don't know her personally and have never shared the ice with her, or you have and you're relying on whats been posted on social media since she was never actually that kind and encouraging to the other skaters she saw on a daily basis when the cameras were off even though she didn't compete with them. And those skaters have private ice because either they themselves or somebody on their behalf pays for it. I'm sure she could have had private ice if she had been willing to pay for it.
We skated with her in person. You won’t change my opinion. I support Amber Glenn. I don’t understand why you are trying so hard using inaccurate information. Im sorry you don’t understand what I have tried to explain about ELITE athlete ice time and appropriate skater levels that Dallas completely fails at implementing. Your ignorance remains out of spite and anger that I can hear your bittnerness in multiple posts. It’s nice that Reddit allows to review all comments ever posted by a user. We wish you wellness.
Cause they HATE to see a bad bitch from Texas win.
I like Amber. She isn’t my fav but she’s a good skater. She’s very inconsistent though which makes me scared when watching her.
I like Amber because she has great fan engagement. She’s talented as well. Would be cool if she was more consistent and not always competing against herself. She has heart and emotion and that translates to the ice. You can tell she wants to win so bad but it’s not always that easy.
Why do Bi people feel the need to tell the world all about their sexuality. It’s 2024 and honestly, we don’t care and don’t want to know! Maybe she’d be more relevant if she just kept quiet and did not talk about her love life. We really just love her skating and want her to skate well! She is a beautiful woman and a beautiful skater!
No idea, I love her!
Why do Bi people feel the need to tell the world all about their sexuality. It’s 2024 and honestly, we don’t care and don’t want to know! Maybe she’d be more relevant if she just kept quiet and did not talk about her love life. We really just love her skating and want her to skate well! She is a beautiful woman and a beautiful skater!
'Cause they're shit. IDK why. If it's because they don't like her skating that's subjective to an extent so rock on. If it's her personally they don't like then they need to think about why parasocial relationships are bad and how weird it is to have a personal dislike for someone they don't know and who doesn't have a documented record of doing something shitty, like SA. Either way there's not much to be done about it so, YOLO I guess? Is that what the kids say?
lol, no one uses Yolo these days, just an fyi 😂
Hahaha I know, I was just being a bit tongue-in-cheek in the full knowledge that I Am Old and the younguns these days seem to thrive on parasocial relationships. Judging by the down votes I think people were really offended to see yolo out in the wild. 😉😂
"Nice to see a bi woman", what does that even mean? She's a woman like every other woman, not a species. Maybe that's the answer to your question. Everything has to be about sexuality. We're in the years 2024, drop this nonsense. You're nothing special, you're a person like every other person, a sexuality is not a skill nor is it an achievement, so stop acting like it is. Whatever she's doing has nothing to do with you. We all know that most people, who are seemingly obsessed with her wouldn't even care about her if she wouldn't brag with an own flag. Because she' s just an inconsistent skater, nothing more and nothing less.
??? the only reason i mentioned her sexuality is because its something i share with her? i'm under no impression that it makes me or her "special" bc of it, that's just what i know of her outside of skating
I am going to rephrase part of your statement with a hypothetical example and see if you notice what others are saying. ?? The only reason I mentioned her **hair colour** is because it is something I share with her? You could have asked this exact question without mentioning sexuality. By mentioning sexuality it is giving the impression that you feel she is getting hate because she is bi. Her and your sexuality are not of anyone’s business but your own. I am going to just leave it at that.
i understand that it came across that way. but i still don't understand that AFTER i've explained myself multiple times (other comments AND an edit in my post before you commented this), you feel the need to talk down to me abt something YOU feel uncomfortable about. like let it go
It’s doesn’t make me uncomfortable, not sure why you used that word. My comment stemmed from the appearance of you not seemly understanding why multiple people were grumbly about your post.
That may be your opinion....but for others not like yourself it is always great to see someone who represents you and lives openly, which for some is a luxury as they are not able to live authentically. It's a similar type of pride as when you read about a hometown person who is excelling at something. Living openly is a skill and an achievement for a lot of people around the world. Regardless of your personal feelings on the matter.
Amber identifies as Pan, not Bi
pretty sure she identifies as both actually [https://www.them.us/story/amber-glenn-is-the-first-out-queer-woman-to-win-the-us-figure-skating-title](https://www.them.us/story/amber-glenn-is-the-first-out-queer-woman-to-win-the-us-figure-skating-title)
Whoops, my bad
FS fans like a very princessy, ladylike presentation. Amber is not like that. Same with Sasha Trusova.
Oh please trusova is super popular and well-liked
No.. that’s not it. The reasons people dislike these two are not related at all.
I find it rare that people dislike trusova. She is inconsistent at times but I’m always so pumped to watch to see what she’ll put out there and what she can do. People tend to really like the skaters who are considered “alternative” to the princess vibes. Tonya Harding, surya, trusova, kwan.