02/24/2026
After competing at the Winter Olympics this week, Team USA figure skater Amber Glenn did something almost no elite female athlete does: she talked openly about performing on her period. She spoke candidly about how menstruation affects energy, emotions, and performance -- and how the topic remains largely unspoken in women's sports. "It's something that we don't really talk about a lot for female athletes," she said, "and I think it should be a topic of discussion."
Her willingness to break that silence is just one of the many ways Amber Glenn proved herself a superstar both on and off the rink at these Olympic Games.
It started before she even competed. When a reporter at a pre-Olympics press conference asked the three-time U.S. national champion -- the first openly q***r woman to represent the United States in Olympic figure skating -- about the current political climate for LGBTQ+ Americans, Amber answered honestly. "It's been a hard time for the community overall in this administration," she said. "It isn't the first time that we've had to come together as a community and try and fight for our human rights."
"I know that a lot of people will say, 'You're just an athlete. Stick to your job. Shut up about politics,' but politics affect us all," she continued. "It is something that I will not just be quiet about because it is something that affects us in our everyday lives."
What followed was a torrent of hate. Conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly called her "another turncoat to root against." Fox News's Laura Ingraham attacked her on air. J.D. Vance said Olympians are "not there to pop off about politics."
Amber reported quickly receiving a "scary amount of hate/threats for simply using my voice WHEN ASKED about how I feel" and said she would be "limiting my time on social media for my own wellbeing for now but I will never stop using my voice for what I believe in."
"I've never had so many people wish me harm before," she said, "just for being me and speaking about being decent -- human rights and decency."
Her sister Brooke published an op-ed defending her, pointing to the more than 400 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in the U.S. so far this year: "This isn't criticism. This is an attempt to strip away someone's humanity."
Amber didn't retreat. She helped Team USA win gold in the team figure skating event, then posted photos of herself and teammate Alysa Liu wearing their medals with the caption: "They hate to see two woke b*tches winning. If 'Woke' means people who use their platforms to advocate for marginalized communities in the country that they are actively representing... Then yeah sure?"
Then came the individual competition. A costly error in her short program -- a double loop instead of a triple, scored as an invalid element -- dropped her to 13th place. MAGA provocateurs celebrated it as "karma." But Amber rallied. Two days later, she delivered a season-best free skate, climbing from 13th to 5th with a score of 214.91 -- one of the best of her career.
"It wasn't easy," she said afterward. "There's been a bombardment of attacks and hate on me, using my lackluster performance as fuel for hate, and that was disheartening." Then she added: "I'm a fighter, and I'm resilient, and you never know what's going to happen because I never thought I'd even be here, and to be top five is incredible."
And she wasn't done. After her free skate, Amber sat in the leader's chair for 90 minutes, cheering for every skater who followed -- encouraging the crowd to applaud for competitors from Kazakhstan and Japan, embracing her teammate Isabeau Levito after a difficult skate, and when Alysa Liu was crowned Olympic champion, Amber hopped onto the kiss-and-cry stand to raise her teammate's hand in victory. When Japan's Kaori Sakamoto broke down in tears after narrowly missing gold, it was Amber who shielded her from a cameraman and comforted her.
Amber then spoke up for all three American women, calling the online harassment they'd endured "really disturbing" and urging better protections for athletes: "It's hard not to see that stuff online. I hope we can work to have a safer place for athletes, especially people very young, like Isabeau."
At 26 -- the oldest American woman in Olympic singles figure skating in nearly a century -- Amber Glenn came to Milan and shined in every way that matters. She won gold. She landed a triple axel at the Olympics, one of only two women in the competition to attempt it. She climbed from 13th to 5th in one of the great comeback performances in recent Olympic figure skating.
But she also broke taboos that needed breaking -- speaking openly about the reality of menstruation in elite sport, about LGBTQ+ rights in an increasingly hostile political climate, about the toll of online harassment on women athletes. None of the vitriol, none of the threats, none of the political attacks silenced her.
"I will never stop using my voice for what I believe in," she wrote. She meant it.
Amber Glenn, we applaud you -- for the gold medal, for the astounding comeback, for shielding a crying competitor from the cameras, for speaking up for your teammates, for your community, and for every woman who's ever been told to just shut up and perform. You are exactly the kind of champion the world needs right now.
Together, let's drown out all the trolls and the negativity -- please share a note of appreciation for this mighty woman below.
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To help your Mighty Girl feel prepared for and better understand her period, we recommend many books and resources in our blog post “That Time of the Month: Teaching Your Mighty Girl about Her Menstrual Cycle” at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=11614
For an uplifting picture book about an irrepressible Mighty Girl who won't let the criticism of others hold her back, we recommend "Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon" for ages 4 to 8 at https://www.amightygirl.com/stand-tall-molly-lou-melon
For an inspiring picture book encouraging girls to speak up and use their voices, check out "Raise Your Hand" for ages 5 to 9 at https://www.amightygirl.com/raise-your-hand
For an excellent guide to help tween girls learn how to speak up and approach over 200 social situations with confidence, we recommend "A Smart Girl’s Guide to Knowing What to Say" for ages 9 to 12 at https://www.amightygirl.com/knowing-what-to-say
There's also a fantastic guide for teen girls on how to assert themselves and voice their opinions, "Express Yourself: A Teen Girl's Guide to Speaking Up and Being Who You Are" for ages 12 and up at https://www.amightygirl.com/express-yourself-guide
For books for children and teens about girls and women who used their voices to fight for change throughout history, visit our blog post, "Dissent Is Patriotic: 50 Books About Women Who Fought for Change," at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=14364
For kids' books about female Olympians in a variety of sports, visit our blog post "30 Children's Books About Female Olympians" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=34101
Thanks to Brut for sharing this image.
