Ever since Alysa Liu returned to figure skating, she has found more joy in performing for the audience than in pleasing the judges who decide how she’ll place. The 20-year-old has now successfully accomplished the Blade Angels quest for gold, the nickname for the team USA Winter Olympics Figure Skating trio: Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn, and Isabeau Levito.
Liu decided to retire at age 16 after her debut at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, but returned in 2024 after nearly 2 years with, in her words, Alysa 2.0—a new and better version of herself. On February 19th at the women’s single finals, Liu became the first American woman figure skater in the Olympics to earn a gold medal in an individual event since 2002, with a score of 226.79 points. Others described her performance as “joyous” and “carefree” as she skated to “MacArthur Park Suite” by Donna Summer, a 1978 disco classic. The song experienced a massive resurgence, surging 1,292% within 24 hours after Liu’s performance, and moved to the top of Billboard’s Dance Digital Song Sales chart. This marks Liu’s second gold medal at Milano Cortina 2026 after the team event. Two skaters from Japan were also on the podium, with Kaori Sakamoto taking silver and Ami Nakai securing bronze.
“I really despised skating,” Liu told The Associated Press. “I thought that skating was the reason why all these bad things were happening to me. I thought that for so long, you know? But I realized through time that’s not the case. It doesn’t have to be like that. And yeah, so now I do not take the sport as seriously. Nothing is hurt. I just compete so that I can, like, skate. Show my programs.”
Alysa Liu emphasizes that she does not focus on her skating; she just performs because she loves it. On February 21, she performed at the Exhibition Gala to “Stateside” by PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson, which also experienced a massive surge in popularity, reaching number 3 on US Spotify and now top 10 on Global Spotify. This was her closing performance after winning gold, which instantly went viral on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter, and was widely praised for its high energy and style.
At the end of the day, sports are nothing without passion. Alysa Liu’s gold medal is a reminder of what makes a sport powerful in the first place: it’s more than victory on the scoreboard. She has shown that genuine passion can make something so difficult seem enjoyable, helping other athletes return to their sport and reignite their spark.
