Biggest disappointments in U.S. Olympics history: Where Ilia Malinin ranks among shocking defeats

MILAN — The Quad God proved mortal after all. Ilia Malinin, the 18-year-old Virginia phenom who arrived at the 2026 Winter Games carrying the weight of a nation’s gold-medal hopes, tumbled from heavy favorite to eighth-place finisher in a men’s free skate that will live in U.S. Olympic infamy. The two falls—one on an attempted quadruple lutz, another moments later—erased the commanding short-program lead that had cast him as the heir to American skating legends and relegated him to the periphery of a podium swept by Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov.

While Malinin did contribute to the United States’ team-event gold earlier in the Games, his individual collapse instantly joins the pantheon of American Olympic heartbreaks. Here is where the defeat slots among the most stunning U.S. flops on the global stage:

2004 Athens men’s basketball: Larry Brown’s star-laden roster—LeBron James, Allen Iverson, Dwyane Wade, Tim Duncan, Carmelo Anthony—staggered to a 5-3 record and bronze after opening with a 19-point humiliation against Puerto Rico.

Dan Jansen, Calgary 1988: The world-record sprater entered the 500- and 1,000-meter races as the clear pick for double gold, only to fall in both amid the emotional backdrop of his sister’s death from leukemia. He persevered four years later to capture 1,000-meter gold in Lillehammer.

Calgary 1988 overall medal haul: Beyond Brian Boitano and Bonnie Blair, the U.S. collected just six medals—its lowest count in 52 years.

1992 Barcelona decathlon: The Reebok-hyped “Dan & Dave” showdown never materialized when Dan O’Brien failed to qualify and Dave Johnson settled for bronze.

Mikaela Shiffrin, 2022 Beijing & 2026 Milan: Owner of a record number of World Cup wins, Shiffrin walked away from two Olympics without an individual medal, her latest setback coming in the alpine team combined.

Mary Decker, Los Angeles 1984: The hometown 3,000-meter favorite collided with Great Britain’s Zola Budd, crashed to the infield and left without hardware, later enduring a doping controversy that shadowed her remaining Olympic attempts.

Bode Miller, Turin 2006: America’s headline alpine star vowed five medals, delivered zero, and shrugged that he was “just having fun.”

Marion Jones, Sydney 2000: She blazed to five golds, then surrendered every medal after admitting to steroid use.

Ryan Lochte, Rio 2016: A relay gold could not mask a fifth-place individual finish and the fabricated gas-station robbery tale that cost him sponsorships and a suspension.

Lolo Jones, Beijing 2008 & London 2012: The hurdling world champion clipped the penultimate barrier in ’08 and finished fourth in ’12, never reaching the podium.

2016 U.S. women’s soccer: Ranked No. 1 and led by Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan and Hope Solo, the Americans fell to Sweden in quarter-final penalty kicks and left Brazil empty-handed.

1972 Munich men’s basketball: A disputed last-second sequence ended the Americans’ 63-game Olympic winning streak and produced the still-rejected silver medals of perhaps the most controversial gold-medal game in history.

Malinin’s eighth-place finish, set against the backdrop of his “Quad God” nickname and the expectation of a new era of American dominance, now stands shoulder-to-shoulder with those historic setbacks. The program that began with a short-program roar ended with a thud heard from Milan to Milwaukee, ensuring that whenever future lists of U.S. Olympic calamities are compiled, Ilia Malinin’s name will appear near the top.