By the time Ilia Malinin took the ice in Milan, his gold medal was a foregone conclusion. The twenty-one-year-old American is the greatest in the world. He is the two-time reigning world champion. He is the first and only skater to perform a quadruple axel. He is the “Quad God.” He was entering the free skate with a five-point lead, and his closest rival, Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, just turned in an uncharacteristically poor performance.
But days after a claim that he had given “only 50% effort” in his short routine for the team event and skating to a soundtrack that includes his own spoken word, Malinin fell. And he fell. And fell.
I’m sympathetic to Malinin. It’s heartbreaking to watch someone who has worked their entire life fail to meet the moment. But in that moment Malinin couldn’t have been more American.
Just as it was unthinkable that Malinin could fall to eighth place, it was once unthinkable that the greatest nation on earth could fall to where we are now. We were the heavy favorite with a five-point lead. We were skating to our own voice. But, overconfident and giving only 50% effort, we fell. And we fell. And fell.
Our President now calls his own country’s Olympic athletes “real losers” while dismissing his own frequent appearances in the Epstein Files and waging war on his own citizens.
After his disastrous free skate, Malinin made no excuses: “I just felt like all the … traumatic moments of my life really just started flooding my head … there were just so many negative thoughts … And I just did not handle it,” Malinin said. “I can’t go back and change it, even though I would love to. From here, it’s just regrouping and figuring out what to do next.”
We’ll see Malinin again in four years. America will still be here. We’re both regrouping and figuring it out. I hope we both do better.