Figure Skating Fans Have A Lot To Say About That Olympic Leader’s Chair Amber Glenn Sat In

If you watched the women’s free skate last night at the Olympics, you saw a lot of Amber Glenn. The talented American finished just off the podium in fifth place, but she was a near constant fixture of the telecast. As part of a new production wrinkle, she sat in a chair on stage next to the kiss and cry for about an hour while nearly ten skaters took their turns after her. Not surprisingly, fans were up in their feelings about it, with some finding it awkward and unintentionally mean-spirited and others loving the drama.

It happened because of a planned change from previous Olympic broadcasts. This year, the figure skating competition featured a so-called leader’s chair. Medals are awarded based on combining the scores of the short program, which happened earlier in the week, and the free skate, which happened last night. Whoever was the current leader at any given moment was placed in that chair and told to wait until someone else topped their score.

Since the skaters take their turns in reverse order based on their short program scores, organizers no doubt assumed there would be a near constant cycle of new athletes scoring higher and getting to sit in the leader’s chair. That’s how the night started out too, but after Amber Glenn put up an absolutely massive score from thirteenth position, she just stayed in first place, as skater after skater went. She ultimately sat there for around an hour, cheering on the other skaters but also understandably looking nervous as it started to look like her epic skate could turn into an improbable medal.

Ultimately, it didn’t happen. Glenn beat every skater from twelfth to fifth, but the top four women all finished higher, two because they actually had a higher rated free skate and two because the points advantage they had coming into the day was too much for her to overcome. So, in practicality, even though she finished out of the medals, she spent more than twice as much time in the leader’s chair as anyone else and had to try and remain poised in front of a gigantic audience for an hour during what had to be some of the most stressful moments of her life.

In fairness to the Olympics and broadcaster NBC, it was riveting television, but there was also a sense of sadness about it, as anyone who follows figure skating knew there was very little chance she’d actually end up on the podium. In that way, it sorta felt like a slow walk to the executioner, even though her home run free skate should have felt like an unreserved reason for celebration.

Reaction on social media and in live blogs was very much mixed. Videos of interactions or the lack of interactions between Glenn and the other skaters were posted online, and a Reddit thread that was largely critical of the change attracted thousands of engagements. The top comment calling the leader’s chair “awkward” got more than five hundred likes. Here’s another comment which attracted more than two hundred likes…

Not all of the commentary was negative, however. Footage of Glenn rooting on other skaters and asking the crowd to cheer louder for them was endearing to many, who are pleased with how much more positive women’s figure skating seems to have become in recent years. Fans also tweeted updates of her in the leader’s chair throughout the night, and many talked about how seeing the current leader added some drama to the proceedings. Here's an example...

Adding drama was definitely the goal. The change was officially rolled out at last year’s World Championships, and it mirrors what some other sports do including skiing. As one of the prestige sports of the Winter Olympics, figure skating always gets a chance to shine every four years, but there is great hope that adding some more excitement and production value could increase the total number of viewers outside the Olympics, as well as attract more young skaters. It's a beautiful sports, but between rights issues and spotty television coverage, it's an uphill climb.

However you feel about the leader’s chair, it was a phenomenal women’s free program. Alysa Liu went from retired to Olympic champion after her energetic skate narrowly topped Japanese favorite Kaori Sakamoto, who scored higher for her artistry but lost because of a lower technical score on the difficulty of her jumps. They were joined on the podium by Japan’s Ami Nakai, who, much to her delight, medaled at just seventeen. A lot can happen in four years, but at the next Olympics, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see her sitting in the leader’s chair when all is said and done.