TEAMING WITH HOPE

A stacked U.S. figure skating squad could have its best medal haul in decades

- BY THỤC NHI NGUYEN

STEPHANIE SCARBROUGH Associated Press

FROM LEFT, Alysa Liu (silver), Amber Glenn (gold), Isabeau Levito (bronze) and fourth-place finisher Bradie Tennell at nationals.

MILAN — Amber Glenn achieved a lifelong goal, sealing her Olympic bid by winning her third consecutive U.S. championship — last month. Her first celebration came with her opponents.

"We all deserve it," Glenn said with her arms wrapped around national silver medalist Alysa Liu and bronze medalist Isabeau Levito.

The spirit of collaboration has brought U.S. figure skating into a new golden age. The 16-athlete team the United States sent to Milan may be the country’s strongest Olympic team in decades. With three reigning world champions and three current Grand Prix final champions, the United States is poised for one of its best Olympic Games in figure skating.

The U.S. record for most medals in figure skating at a single Olympics is five from 1956, when the U.S. swept the podium for the men’s singles competition. The country has never won three figure skating gold medals in one Games.

"We're all in this together," said Justin Dillon, U.S. Figure Skating senior director of athlete high performance. "We're all working towards those goals. ... I very much appreciate our athletes really wanting to outdo themselves, outdo each other but with respect and at the highest level possible."

LIU EMBRACES Glenn during a training session in Milan. “We bring each other up rather than trying to just step on each other,” Glenn says.

(JOOSEP MARTINSON Getty Images)