Olympian Amber Glenn is spilling her secrets after winning gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
“I have many Olympic crushes,” the athlete, 26, revealed while speaking with Self Magazine on Monday, February 9. She then revealed the identity of the lucky athlete — gymnast Lauren Hernandez.
“I love that she’s openly queer and that she is completely herself,” Glenn added of her Olympics crush. “A little bit of a nerd, just like me.”
The figure skater’s confession came shortly after she won a gold medal for Team USA in a team event on Sunday, February 8. During the competition, she skated to Canadian Seb McKinnon’s “The Return,” which he later accused her of using without his permission.
“So just found out an Olympic figure skater used one of my songs without permission for their routine,” he wrote via X on Sunday. “It aired all over the world… what? Is that usual practice for the Olympics?”
According to NBC DFW, skaters have been allowed to use music with lyrics since 2014, but they are “responsible for ensuring their music is properly cleared.” For the Olympics, it is a “complex” process because of international streaming rules and regulations. Glenn has been using McKinnon’s song while performing her free skate for two years.
McKinnon later replied to his own tweet on Monday.
“The deal I have with my label is that I alone can give the ok to license my music. I thought since this was on TV, that it fell under some kind of syncing,” he said. “But it seems to be the same thing as radio? Glad to understand it more.”
Glenn also cleared the air and said in a statement, per the AP, “The issue of music rights can be complex and confusing. Seems like there was a hiccup in that whole process. I’m glad we cleared things up with Seb and I look forward to collaborating with him.”
She added, “It’s my sincere hope that I was able to help create new fans of both figure skating and Seb. We will move forward and continue supporting both artists and the skating community.”
After Glenn took home the trophy, McKinnon further supported the Olympian by writing via X, “And plus she won Gold??? Huge contratz ❤️.”
Glenn, who is competing in the Olympics for the first time this year, previously supported the LGBTQIA+ community during a press conference last week.
“It’s been a hard time for the community overall in this administration,” said, noting that she came out as bisexual and pansexual in 2019. “It isn’t the first time that we’ve had to come together as a community and try and fight for our human rights. And now, especially, it’s not just affecting the queer community, but many other communities. I think that we are able to support each other in a way that we didn’t have to before, and because of that, it’s made us a lot stronger.”
Glenn added, “I know that a lot of people say, ‘You’re just an athlete, like, stick to your job, shut up about politics,’ but politics affect us all.”
She also revealed that she was receiving threats online, but won’t stop standing for what she believes in.
