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GLORY AT LAST: Figure Skating Prodigy Alysa Liu REVEALED as the Queen of the Ice After Ending America’s 24-Year Golden Drought — As She Hits The Today Show to Detail the ‘Beautiful’ Mistakes and Burning Out at 16 that Nearly Ended it All

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Figure Skater Alysa Liu on Historic Gold Medal: ‘I’m Really Grateful’

THE HIGHLIGHTS

  • GOLDEN GIRL: Alysa Liu, 20, stuns the world by capturing the first individual Olympic gold for a US woman since 2002, ending a heartbreaking nearly quarter-century wait.

  • UNFILTERED: Skating star opens up on The Today Show about her ‘harrowing’ burnout and the shocking decision to retire at just 16 years old.

  • MISTAKES ARE BEAUTIFUL: In a radical shift for the high-pressure sport, Liu reveals her secret to winning: embracing the ‘beauty’ of errors and ditching the quest for perfection.

  • THE COMEBACK: From a reclusive retirement and studying psychology to standing atop the podium in Milan, inside the ‘glamorous’ return that defied the critics.

Alysa Liu explains how skating with joy led to Olympic gold for US: 'There’s no way to lose'

NEW YORK CITY — Dressed in a chic, understated ensemble and radiating a confidence that was nowhere to be found four years ago, Alysa Liu walked onto the set of The Today Show this morning not just as an athlete, but as a national icon who has rewritten the history books.

The 20-year-old Oakland native has done what many thought was impossible: she ended the ‘cursed’ 24-year drought for American women on the Olympic ice. But as she sat down with Savannah Guthrie, it wasn’t the weight of the gold medal around her neck that she wanted to discuss—it was the ‘harrowing’ journey of a girl who had to lose the sport to find herself.

“I hated skating,” Liu admitted with a candour that sent shockwaves through the studio. At just 16, after the 2022 Beijing Games, the then-prodigy vanished from the sport, citing a ‘soul-crushing’ fatigue.

While her rivals were perfecting their quads in freezing rinks, Liu was at UCLA, trading the ‘lavish’ life of a world-class skater for textbooks and psychology lectures.

But the ‘glamorous’ world of the Winter Olympics called her back—only this time, she returned on her own terms. “I realized that mistakes are part of the beauty of competition,” Liu told a captivated audience.

Gold Medal Olympian Alyssa Liu Breaks Down Her Olympic Experience

Her historic free skate to Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park Suite” was a masterclass in joy. Despite the immense pressure of the Milano Ice Skating Arena, Liu skated with a ‘fren frenetic’ energy that saw her leapfrog her Japanese rivals, Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai.

The performance was so ‘electric’ that it reportedly caused a 900 percent spike in Spotify streams for the late disco diva. Liu, however, remains grounded. When asked about her ‘superstardom,’ she joked about wearing “wigs” to go to the grocery store.

Behind the ‘vibrant’ smile and the gold medals—she also nabbed a team gold earlier in the week—lies a woman who has conquered the most difficult opponent of all: her own expectations.

SIDEBAR: THE 24-YEAR WAIT BEFORE ALYSA’S TRIUMPH IN MILAN, THE US HAD NOT SEEN A WOMAN ATOP THE INDIVIDUAL PODIUM SINCE SARAH HUGHES IN SALT LAKE CITY 2002. LEGENDS LIKE MICHELLE KWAN AND SASHA COHEN FOUGHT VALIANTLY, BUT THE GOLD REMAINED ELUSIVE UNTIL LIU’S ‘MIRACULOUS’ 2026 RUN.

“I’m just peak happiness,” Liu concluded, clutching her two gold medals. “I didn’t need the gold to validate me, but I’m sure glad it’s here.”

What do you think of Alysa’s ‘rebel’ approach to skating? Is she the role model the sport desperately needs? Let us know in the comments below!

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