Alysa Liu, her father Arthur and Chinese spies: Unusual road to Olympics

From teen burnout to Olympic gold: Figure skating champion Alysa Liu ‘looking to inspire others’

The daughter of a Chinese political refugee, Alysa Liu started skating at the age of five with her life consumed by the sport as a child.Newly crowned Olympic women’s figure skating champion Alysa Liu says she wants her story to “inspire others” after the golden return of a former child prodigy who suffered burnout.
US athlete Alysa Liu poses with her gold medal following the victory ceremony of the figure skating women’s single free skating final during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan, Italy, on February 19, 2026. Photo: Gabriel Bouys/AFP.

Liu stepped away from figure skating aged just 16 years, tired of the endless training and wanting to live the life of a normal teenager.

But she returned to the rink even stronger two years later, and on Thursday night the 20-year-old produced an electrifying performance that put the US women back on top of the Olympic women’s podium for the first time since 2002.

“Honestly, it was more than just work, it was experience,” Liu said after her second gold of the Milan-Cortina Games having helped the US defend their team title.

“The last time I was skating, it was so rough. I genuinely can’t begin to start (talking) on it. It took a lot to get to this point, and studying psychology has really helped. I love psychology.”

The daughter of a Chinese political refugee, Liu started skating at the age of five with her life consumed by the sport as a child.
US figure skating champion Alysa Liu (left) and her father Arthur Liu (right). File photo: Alysa Liu, via Instagram.
The Californian won her first senior US title aged 13, landing a rare triple axel jump and breaking Tara Lipinski’s record to become the youngest national champion.

For her first Olympic Games four years ago Liu’s preparation was disrupted by Covid. After testing positive she missed the US trials but was still selected for the Beijing Games where she finished sixth.

The following month, in the absence of Russian skaters she won the bronze medal at the 2022 world championships, giving the United States its first world medal in the women’s event since 2016.

But just a few weeks later Liu announced that she was ending her career, saying she felt she had achieved all her goals in the sport.

Away from competition, she got her driver’s license, enjoyed holidays, went to concerts and experienced something she had not before — a normal teenager’s life.

“Honestly, I didn’t have many people to look up to,” she explained.

“I only really had myself, and I think that’s all I needed. I got ‘alone’ time (during the pandemic). I got to think a lot.

“When Covid hit, that’s when I had my first ‘what to do with myself’ moment. It was like a ‘lightbulb’ moment.

“I was also going through puberty and my brain helped with that process (of understanding herself). A lot has happened in four years.”

Mental health awareness

She began to miss skating and competition and laced up her skates again for the 2024–2025 season.

In her very first year back, she won the world championship title shocking three-time reigning champion Kaori Sakamoto.
US gold medallist Alysa Liu (centre) celebrates next to Japanese silver medallist Kaori Sakamoto (left) and Japanese bronze medallist Ami Nakai on the podium of the figure skating women’s single free skating final during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on February 19, 2026. Photo: Wang Zhao/AFP.
For her second Olympic Games, the 20-year-old skater approached things with a “completely different” mindset compared to Beijing.

“This time just feels so completely different. I know who I am as a person now,” she said.

Showing her own style with her streaked “Halo” hairstyle, she opened her competition by winning the team title.

Then, in the individual event, she placed third in the short programme, just 2.12 points off the lead.

Two days later, she skated a magnificent free programme to the disco sounds of Donna Summer and lit up the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

She gave the United States their first Olympic title in the women’s event since Sarah Hughes in 2002 and first medal since Sasha Cohen’s silver in 2006.

“I have no idea how I am going to deal with it (the fame). I’ll probably wear some wigs when I go outside,” she laughed.

“I think my story’s more important than anything to me and that’s what I hold dear and this journey has been incredible.

“I hope with all this attention I can raise awareness about mental health in sports, and mental health more generally.

“I think my story is very cool. Hopefully, I can inspire some people.

“All I want in my life is human connection and, damn, now I am connected with a hell of a ton of people.”

Alysa Liu wins Winter Olympics gold to end US women’s 24-year figure skating drought

20-year-old delivers near-flawless free skate
Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai win silver and bronze

Bryan Armen Graham at the Milano Ice Skating Arena

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Alysa Liu completed a stunning comeback to competitive figure skating by winning the first Olympic women’s figure skating gold medal for the United States in 24 years on Thursday night.

The 20-year-old from Clovis, California, who vanished from the sport nearly four years ago uncertain if she’d ever return, delivered a career-best long program to overtake Japanese rivals Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai. Skating in a shimmering gold dress to Donna Summer’s MacArthur Park Suite, Liu cleanly landed all seven of her triple jumps, including three in combination, and drew a standing ovation before finishing with 226.79 points overall.

‘If there was no one on Earth, I would still skate’: Alysa Liu on her remarkable figure skating comeback

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“That’s what I’m fucking talking about,” Liu said as she left the ice. As the scores were announced she shook her head with knowing approval while she was hugged by her coaches, Phillip DiGuglielmo and Massimo Scali.

Sakamoto finished with 224.90 points over both segments to take silver, her lone mistakes coming on her second triple flip and failing to add the planned triple toe on a combination. The 17-year-old Nakai, the youngest skater of the 29 entrants who came in first after the short program, made several errors in the second half of her program to finish ninth in the free skate and slip to bronze with an overall score of 219.16.

Liu, the surprise world champion a year ago and now a double Olympic champion after last week’s team event, became the first American woman to win individual figure skating gold since Sarah Hughes in 2002. The last US woman to reach an Olympic podium was Sasha Cohen in 2006.

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Alysa Liu celebrates on the podium alongside fellow medalists, Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

Japan’s Mone Chiba came in fourth, one place ahead of three-time US champion Amber Glenn, who had finished a disappointing 13th in the short, but whose redemptive long program ended her Olympics on a high note.

“It wasn’t easy,” Glenn said. “There’s been a bombardment of attacks and hate on me, using my lackluster performance as fuel for hate, and that was disheartening. I just thought, ‘I’m going do what I do best, which is enjoy skating’, and that’s what I did today.”

But the night belonged to Liu, who skated third-to-last with the rollicking crowd in her thrall. By the time she closed with a graceful layback spin, the 12,000-seat arena was a white-hot wall of sound. She then watched as Sakamoto and Nakai skated beautifully, but failed to meet her mark.

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Alysa Liu during her gold medal winning performance. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

“I had dinner with [my family] last night and that was unbelievable,” Liu said. “But another unbelievable feeling was just when I was skating. When I was skating, hearing the cheers, I felt so connected with this audience. I want to be out there again.”

The outcome was the culmination of one of the most unusual arcs in the sport’s history. Liu burst on to the scene in 2019 as the youngest ever US national champion at the age of 13. She repeated the feat a year later, then competed at the 2022 Olympics and won bronze at that year’s worlds – before abruptly retiring that same spring, citing fatigue and burnout.

She stayed away for nearly two years. But by mid-2023, she was back training in California, with eyes on rediscovering joy in her sport and possibly targeting these Winter Olympics.

Adeliia Petrosian, the three-time Russian champion entered as an individual neutral athlete and a dangerous flier for gold despite entering Thursday in fifth place. She had hopes of a medal due to her planned quadruple toeloop, but clattered to the ice on the potential difference-making jump. The protege of controversial coach Eteri Tutberidze still managed a fifth-best free skate score of 141.64 to finish sixth.

“I feel a little ashamed,” Petrosian said, “for myself, for the federation, for my coaches and for the spectators that it went this way. I understand that it’s my own fault.”

Liu became the eighth US woman to win figure skating’s biggest prize before an audience that included former Olympic champion Tenley Albright, who became the first at the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Games.