Yes, there has been a lot of attention on figure skater Ilia Malinin, to the point where someone just dropping in on the sport would have been utterly shocked to see what happened when Malinin made his Olympic debut in the short program of the team event.

Isn’t this guy supposed to be the quadg0d? An overwhelming favorite for the men’s singles gold medal? Winner of the last two world titles?

Then how did he finish second Saturday at the Milano Ice Center Arena to Yuma Kagiyama of Japan…and by 10 points??

On ice, of course, even the divine can slip into fallibility, as Malinin did, losing points on an under-rotated quad Lutz jump and a spin that did not get the maximum base value.

And this wasn’t the first time Kagiyama had beaten Malinin in a short program. In fact, it happened in their last meeting, at the Grand Prix Final in December.

The short program, with just three jumping passes and four total jumps, does not play to Malinin’s strength, as the free skate does with its seven jumping passes and 10 jumps.

And Kagiyama, the reigning Olympic silver medalist, was absolutely magnificent, piling up a whopping number of grade-of-execution points, adding more to his margin in component scores and bounding about the Milan Ice Center with exuberance all over his boyish face after he finished.

Kagiyama had 108.67 points to 98.0 for Malinin.

And yet, for all that, what did seem a bit surprising was Malinin’s literal “just glad to be here” reaction to his flawed skate and second place finish in speaking to media when it was over.

Rationalization? Maybe just a way to cope with a setback.

 “I feel really happy,” he said.  “I'm so glad to be here.  You know, this Olympic moment and this Olympic experience was a once -in-a-lifetime moment for me, so just being able to go out here is what I'm just grateful for.

“I’m trying to enjoy every single moment. There are a lot of unexpected things that happen in life.”

The point Malinin lost to Kagiyama in the men’s short program complicated the U.S. path to hold off Japan and win what has been an expected team event gold.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates put out a brilliant free dance (with their highest score of the season) to win their discipline. That gave the U.S. a 44-39 lead over Japan into Sunday’s team event finales, with free skates for pairs, women and men.

It is easy to imagine a scenario in which the U.S. and Japan are tied as Malinin faces Japan’s Shun Sato in the free skate.

If U.S. pair Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea finish fifth to reigning world champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, as was the case in the short program, the lead would be down to one point.

And then if three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto beats three-time U.S. champion Amber Glenn by one place in the free skate, the teams would be tied.

And Malinin, who said at a press conference a few days ago that the favorite’s role has weighed on him, could be even more burdened in a showdown for the team gold, even if Sato is a less formidable adversary than Kagiyama.

“It’s a lot to handle, the pressure, all the attention, all the focus on you to become the Olympic gold hopeful,” he said.  “A lot of the times I'll have bad days where I think about that, and it really shuts me down, and it really puts me in, you know, not the best moods.

“That's something that everyone has to go through, and they have to find their way to motivate themselves or keep them together during that pressure.”

Malinin admitted to feeling it during the short program. Only one of his three jumping passes, the opening quad flip, got a positive grade of execution.

When his score came up, Malinin shook his head in incomprehension.  It was just the third time in his last 18 international competitions that he has had fewer than 100 points.  Two of those three have been in his last two competitions, the other a 94.05 at the Grand Prix Final.

“Of course, it wasn’t the ideal, perfect, 100 percent skate I wanted to have, but for the standard I set myself today, I think I achieved that,” he said in Milan.

And that standard was?

“I presumed to come into the team event at only 50 percent of my full potential, and that’s what I felt today,” he said.

While you are trying to work through the abstract algebra of Malinin Math for a proof showing what that means, this simple equation may be all that is needed.

Seven times four equals infinite greatness in figure skating.

Because after botching that short program at the Grand Prix Final, Malinin came back to land seven clean quadruple jumps, a landmark achievement, in a free skate that got the highest score in history. Almost needless to say, he wiped out Kagiyama’s 14-point lead and won by 30.

Such apotheosis is how to become an immortal in the sport. Or, if you will, a quadg0d.

Philip Hersh, who has covered figure skating at 13 straight Olympics, is a special contributor to NBCOlympics.com.