MILAN (AP) — Figure skater Amber Glenn didn’t even get the chance to try to qualify for the 2022 U.S. Olympic team because she tested positive for COVID-19. Clearly, that sticks with her.
This time around, with the American preparing to contend for an individual medal at the Milan Cortina Winter Games next week, she is relying on “an insane amount of hand sanitizer” — defined by Glenn as “a handbag-full” — to make sure that sort of thing doesn’t sideline her again.
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FILE - A member of the medical staff wears a protective mask as she watches a women's normal hill ski jumping training session at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 4, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, file)
FILE - Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States adjusts her face mask before heading to the gondola to go up the alpine ski course for a training run at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 10, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, file)
FILE - Canada's Natalie Spooner (24) and Russian Olympic Committee's Alexandra Vafina (29) wear COVID masks during a preliminary round women's hockey game at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 7, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)
FILE - Gold medalists, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, of China, pose during a medal ceremony after the pairs free skate program during the figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 19, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, file)
Amber Glenn, of the U.S., performs during a figure skating training session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
She and other athletes whose Beijing Olympics were waylaid by the pandemic four years ago are still dealing with those memories and those worries.
“We have certain B vitamins, vitamin C, that kind of stuff, that’s cleared with the (U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee), that we take. Anything that will keep me from getting sick, I’m like, ‘Give it to me now!’ I’m drinking all these green juices,” said Glenn, a 26-year-old from Plano, Texas, who is the first woman to claim three consecutive U.S. Figure Skating titles since Michelle Kwan two decades ago.
“When you’re in such a high-tense environment, and everybody is sweating, and unfortunately snot is going everywhere, and everyone is so stressed, there’s so much happening,” Glenn said. “And then our bodies come down, and our minds come down, and we’re very vulnerable.”
Speedskater Casey Dawson missed the opening ceremony four years ago and then skipped his first event, the 5,000 meters, because he contracted COVID before he was supposed to fly to China.
“Tested positive for 50 straight tests,” said Dawson, a 25-year-old from Park City, Utah. “Showed up 12 hours before my 1,500 meters.”
Like Glenn, he’s been opting for generous helpings of vitamins and dusting off his masks, which were so ubiquitous at the last Winter Olympics. After finishing eighth in the 5,000 in Milan on Sunday, he's also planning to enter the 10,000 on Friday, the team pursuit and the 1,500.
“Taking the right precautions,” Dawson said. “We’ve learned a lot since the COVID pandemic.”
Seems as though it was long ago, in some regards.
Yet it's also fresh in the minds of Dawson, Glenn and others, even if there aren't the constant reminders that there were back then: the uncomfortable nose and throat swabs, the quarantines or, in the words of Owen Power, a member of Canada's 2022 men’s hockey team, “People walking around in hazmat suits, coming in and cleaning your room.”
The athletes who made it to Beijing and Milan are well aware of the differences.
“This is a lot less stressful," said American ice dancer Evan Bates, who along with Madison Chock is favored for gold in ice dancing. Thinking back to China, Bates said: “There was so much uncertainty.”
In hopes of eliminating some unknowns, U.S. biathlon athletes are working with the University of Utah to track heart rates, fatigue and other data to “really catch the illness before it affects the team,” explained biathlete Chloe Levins, who got COVID at the start of the 2022 Olympic season and was sidelined from November until March.
This new program is not for COVID, specifically; Levins called it “illness mitigation.” She and teammates will get $3 for each survey providing the requested information.
Some, such as speedskating star Jordan Stolz, actually were pleased to deal with ailments like a head cold ahead of the trip to Italy. The 21-year-old Stolz got sick just before last month’s U.S. Olympic trials in his home state of Wisconsin and, he said, it contributed to a surprising fall he took in the 1,000 meters.
“It’s nice,” Stolz said then, “that I can get sick now and hopefully not get sick later.”
Glenn, the figure skater, harbored a similar thought when she came down with the flu in December.
“I was like, ‘OK, we’re good. Antibodies. Great!’” she recalled.
Then there are others, such as American short track speedskater Kristen Santos-Griswold, who went through the 2022 Games and everything they entailed away from the ice. While she's aware of the sorts of things that can help her stay healthy in 2026, she opted to be a tad less strict.
“I'm keeping up with hygiene and all of that, (but) I’m not trying to go too overboard,” said Santos-Griswold, “because I think that’s the kind of thing that can also drive you crazy.”
AP National Writer Eddie Pells, AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno and AP Sports Writer Dave Skretta contributed.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
FILE - A member of the medical staff wears a protective mask as she watches a women's normal hill ski jumping training session at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 4, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, file)
FILE - Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States adjusts her face mask before heading to the gondola to go up the alpine ski course for a training run at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 10, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, file)
FILE - Canada's Natalie Spooner (24) and Russian Olympic Committee's Alexandra Vafina (29) wear COVID masks during a preliminary round women's hockey game at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 7, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)
FILE - Gold medalists, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, of China, pose during a medal ceremony after the pairs free skate program during the figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 19, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, file)
Amber Glenn, of the U.S., performs during a figure skating training session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
