(corrects to four-times world champion Browning in paragraph 14)
MILAN, Feb 14 (Reuters) - U.S. Olympic greats including Scott Hamilton and Apolo Ohno offered words of encouragement to figure skater Ilia Malinin on Saturday after his disastrous performance on his Games debut.
The 21-year-old American double world champion and red-hot favourite finished eighth after a free programme on Friday that fell apart in spectacular fashion.
"One performance should never define anyone. A good one or a disappointing one," Scott Hamilton, who won gold for the U.S. at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics, posted on X.
"Ilia Malinin is a class act and someone I greatly admire! As badly as I feel for him tonight, I know he will respond with strength, courage, and dignity. We all love you Ilia!"
Malinin had been considered a virtual certainty to win gold in Milan after crushing his rivals in an undefeated streak stretching back more than two years.
Instead, he fell twice and landed only three of the seven quadruple jumps he had planned, and was in disbelief as more than two years of competitive dominance dissolved.
Malinin himself took to Facebook in the small hours of Saturday morning.
"I blew it," he wrote in all-caps. "That's honestly the first thing that came to my mind was 'There's no way that just happened.
"I felt like, going into this competition, I was so ready, I just felt ready getting on that ice. That might have been the reason - that maybe I was too confident that it was gonna go well."
OHNO ADMIRES MALININ'S HONESTY
Gymnastics great Simone Biles, who has also faltered under the glare of the Olympic spotlight, leapt to her feet at the Milano Ice Skating Arena with supportive applause, and former American short-track speedskater Ohno said he was impressed by Malinin's honesty.
"So much hype and the spotlight was bright," the eight-time Olympic medallist posted on X. "But tonight at the moment that mattered most: 8th place. His words: "It was definitely mental.
"That's honesty and ownership. And it takes a hell of a lot of courage to say that than to make excuses. Every Olympics, the 'destined' champion faces THIS moment. A decade of prep. One performance. The body is ready - but did anyone prepare the mind for that pressure?
"The inner game is still the most underutilised edge in sport. Ilia is only 21. He'll be back and he will face the fire once again. I was cheering for him tonight, and I'll be there when he comes back again."
Canada's four-times world champion Kurt Browning called it one of the greatest upsets in figure skating.
"Absolutely," he said on the CBC broadcast. "It has to be, it has to be.
"The idea he has had in the back of his mind is not to just be an Olympic champion. Because honestly (out of) everyone in the sport he just has so many more bullets in the gun than everyone else.
"And it was almost handed to him. And that's a dangerous place to be in, because when it's already assumed, it's hard to go out there and fight for it."
At a watch party at the SkateQuest rink in Virginia where Malinin trains, family, friends and supporters gasped and covered their mouths in disbelief when he turned what had been a quadruple Axel into a single.
"'Quad God' Ilia Malinin crashes to earth and misses podium," the Wall Street Journal had as a headline.
Fans were mostly supportive on social media. One called his collapse "absolutely heartbreaking".
"I just hope he's surrounded by love and care," the fan wrote on Reddit.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing and Rory Carroll, editing by Ed Osmond)
