The “Quad God” Fell at the Olympics
Ilia Malinin is a U.S. Olympic figure skater known as the “quad god” for his mastery of quadruple jumps.
He is the only figure skater to ever land a quadruple axel in an international skating competition. He was widely considered the frontrunner in men’s Olympic skating this year, expected to win the gold medal for men’s singles.
Instead, he fell twice during his performance and came in dead last, 8th.
Interviewed after the event, Malinin said that the mental pressure of the Olympics got to him, saying, “Honestly, I still haven’t been able to process what just happened, it’s a lot of mixed emotions. It’s not like any other competition. It’s the Olympics, and I think people only realize the pressure in the nerves that actually happen from the inside, so it was really just something that overwhelmed me and I just felt like I had no control.”
Malinin still walks away from the Olympics a champion, he won the Gold medal for the figure skating team event.
Do you want to see Ilia back at the 2030 winter Olympics?