With the recent Winter Olympics, the name Alysa Liu has been thrown around, quickly becoming a fan favorite of many. Alysa Liu is a competitive American figure skater who has been in the scene since she was 5 years old. At the age of 14, she became the first American woman to land a quad-lutz in competition and the first woman to do a quad-lutz and triple axel in the same program. At 16 years old, she qualified for the Olympics and got 6th place in 2022. Even though she seemed to have a promising career in figure skating, shortly after her first Olympics, Alysa Liu announced her retirement from figure skating after 11 years. She famously announced her retirement in an Instagram post stating, “Heyyyyy, so I’m here to announce that I am retiring from skating”. A seemingly random statement after her success at the Olympics.
As a child, when Alysa showed a promising skill in figure skating, her father poured all of her time into skating lessons with the best coaches. In an interview with 60 Minutes, she revealed how she skated every day from the ages of 13-14 to the point where it became a burden to her. When Covid-19 peaked, all of the ice skating rinks were closed and this was where she got her first real breakaway from skating. She shared how she really enjoyed not having to be at the rink every day.
It wasn’t until after a skiing trip with friends in college that she realized she missed the adrenaline of her old sport. She wasn’t intending to return to her career, but she put on her skates and went to an open skate session to see if the adrenaline on the ice was still there. This later snowballed into months of consistent skating. When she called her former skating coach about trying to get back into competing again, he initially tried to sway her away from the idea, but nothing was going to stop her from getting back on the ice. Before she fully came back, she made it clear that she would skate on her own terms; she would get a say over her program music, her outfits, her choreography, and most importantly, her health.
Recently, in the 24-25 season, Alysa Liu made her comeback into the skating scene, winning the figure skating world competition after 2 years of retirement, qualifying for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
In a famous Olympics interview, she stated, “If I feel like I’m not skating enough, I’ll ramp it up. No one’s going to starve me or tell me what I can or can’t eat,” completely defying the toxic figure skating culture that many people normalize.
In the 2026 Olympics, she skated to ‘MacArthur Park’ by Donna Summer. In her short program, you could physically see the joy radiating off of her. She put no pressure on herself to be perfect or to win; skating was for her enjoyment, and it truly showed. No doubt her win was so impactful for millions of people around the world. She won gold in both the team events and the women’s short program. On the podium for the Women’s Short Program, along with her were Silver Medalist Kaori Sakamoto and Bronze Medalist Ami Nakai, both Japanese athletes (All Asian Podium!!!). Alysa’s win shows how choosing yourself doesn’t mean losing something.
Her story is very inspiring to many people because of her prioritizing her own physical and mental health. Even though she was a skating prodigy and had had so much success, she was still able to step away for herself and come back on her own terms.
Along with being a great role model and advocate for mental health, many people have also admired her self-expression. She is undoubtedly alternative in her fashion. With a smiley (frenulum) piercing she proudly did herself, and her striped halo hairstyle, she stands proud. She’s not going to change herself for the sake of other people; a sentiment that has resonated with millions.
Resources:
https://www.starsonice.com/skaters/alysa-liu
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5310396/2024/03/01/alysa-liu-figure-skating-return/
https://people.com/alysa-liu-wins-gold-at-2026-winter-olympics-11910051
