Alysa Liu, a figure skater for team USA, won the United States’ first Olympic gold medal in women’s individual figure skating since 2002. This Olympic win only adds to her long list of figure skating achievements. However, these titles weren’t very easy to achieve.
Liu was born on Aug. 8, 2005. Her father, Arthur Liu, is a Chinese political refugee who had Alysa and her four siblings via surrogacy. He was inspired by figure skating legends Michelle Kwan and Kristi Yamaguchi to put Liu into the sport when she was 5 years old.
Liu’s journey started at Oakland Ice Center with group lessons with Laura Lipestky, a retired skater. Soon after the group sessions, Liu moved on to private lessons with Lipetsky. At age 7, she was competing on a national level. In 2016, she became the youngest female to win intermediate gold at the U.S National Championships.
A few years later, in 2018, when Liu was 12-years -old, she became the youngest person to land a triple axel in international competition. Just a year later, she became the youngest girl to win gold at the U.S Championships when she was just 13-years-old. She also became the first woman from the U.S to land three triple axels, one of the hardest figure skating jumps, in a single competition.
Liu is also the first female to ever land a quad, four rotations in one jump, and a triple axel in the same program at a competition. In 2020 Liu won the U.S Championships, making her the youngest figure skater to win back to back U.S titles. In the years leading to the 2022 Beijing Olympics, she made the podium in multiple skating competitions.
Arthur Liu’s past with the Chinese Government left some issues for Alyssa Liu during her time at the 2022 Olympics. She was targeted a few times by spies to try and intimidate her. To keep her safe, the FBI sent an agent to protect her family from a distance.
At her first Olympics, Liu ended up finishing sixth with the podium going to Anna Shcherbakova taking gold, Alexandra Trusova with silver, and Kaori Sakamoto with bronze. That same year, when she was just 16-years-old, Liu announced her retirement from skating on her Instagram.
She was at the peak of her career but chose to retire as she felt she didn’t get a normal childhood and experienced too much pressure and anxiety. She went on to attend college at UCLA, climb Mount Everest base camp, and much more.
After two years off the ice, Liu decided to come back to the sport on her own terms. Instead of skating for medals and titles, she decided to skate for herself. The pressure from her previous time skating was gone.
Major accomplishments during the 2024-2025 figure skating season allowed her to follow Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito, members of the Blade Angels, to the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics. It was here she would win two gold medals, one for the figure skating team event and the other for the women’s individual skate.
The Olympics have caused Liu to blow up online, going from 200,000 followers to over four million on her Instagram. Her hair, talent, and style are all factors that play into how viral she is.
Liu showed that figure skating can be healthy if it’s done on one’s own terms and enjoyment. She proves that the sport doesn’t have to be toxic to produce talented athletes. Without the pressure of winning, she was able to skate cleanly and earn her gold.
