When you Google the phrase “American Figure Skaters,” the first person that comes up is Alysa Liu due to her recent popularity. She is the first American since 2002 to win gold in the women’s singles. She has two Olympic gold medals and has made history during the 2002 Olympics. She has become not only an Olympic icon but also an obsession for many Americans outside of the athletic realm.
When she was just 13 years old, she became the youngest U.S. women’s champion in the U.S. figure skating Champions senior level. The unique thing about that was that she was too young to compete in the World Junior Championships. Many young athletes struggle getting into certain competitions, but in some sports, age shouldn’t matter. What should matter is skill and hard work. This year, the Olympics have made me proud to be an American, and Alysa is my number one reason why. She uses skating as a form of art rather than for sole competition. She didn’t care if she won gold or not and I think that’s what sets her apart from her competitors. These types of competitions have ruined partnership and teamwork, but she changed the game by just having fun.
While some people recognise her for her Olympic performances, most people recognize her for her eccentric, striped hair. Despite what people say, there is a reason why her hair has horizontal stripes.
“You know how trees have rings for their age? I thought, every year I’m gonna add a new halo around my hair,” Liu said in an NBC interview.
I love this idea of showing your growth, because most people are obsessed with how they are perceived rather than how much they have grown from who they were. Ice skating has had this tradition of looking elegant and dancing with grace, and her alternative style challenges that idea. I think it’s great that she doesn’t fit into the box that the sport has created. You don’t need to look a certain way to be good at what you do.
She even brought the song “Stateside” by Zara Larson and PinkPantheress to the number one spot on Spotify because of her performance to the song. Her positivity radiated throughout this performance; she has made us realize what being in the United States means. Politics tend to be the main focus of the world right now and while politics are important, they tend to create a divide rather than make the country better. So when we can celebrate our country as one and have a strong role model to represent us, the divide fades away. With everything going on in the world right now, seeing such a positive person representing America makes me so proud. However, with positivity comes negativity on the internet. Due to her fame, her privacy is constantly being invaded, while I do agree with all the excitement, we should never leak private information or harass anyone. Her fame has made living life much harder.
“Someone chased me to my car, bruh. Please do not do that to me,” Liu said in an Instagram story.
People continue to disrespect her; they use AI to make deepfakes of Liu and many other athletes. People have also sexualized them in normal photos that were taken of these female athletes. Something that drew both me and other fans toward her was her values. Female athletes get sexualized so much that it has become normalised. It’s disgusting, especially since so many of these athletes are extremely young. Because of these struggles, Liu has to focus more on herself and her mental health. She values her friends, family, and mental health over her sport. She previously retired in 2022 because she was 16 and wanted to simply be a teenager before the Olympics in 2026. Her training was extremely intense when she was younger. Her coaches told her not to drink water because of “water weight.”
Her body was judged harshly during her teenage years, which is the time when girls are most insecure. Women’s bodies are so harshly judged and I think that the stigma around having this perfect body is extremely harmful to anyone.
Even though Liu went through all that, she now says that she will put her social life over the sport because she doesn’t want to be consumed by skating anymore.
“I pick hanging out with my friends over a session, and if that makes me a worse skater so be it,” Liu said.
Finding balance in any extracurricular can be hard, especially when you do it professionally. It takes patience and stability to be confident enough not to be so consumed by your passion.
When you turn your passion into work, it begins to feel like a job rather than a pursuit of your passion. So when she took a step back, it showed how she wasn’t willing to lose her spark just because she wanted to win. I really love her values and she is such a wonderful example for young athletes. She has said many times that she doesn’t care about medals; she has been skating since she was five. I guarantee you that she has walls covered in her accomplishments. She is someone who values family and friends over anything and that is so important. Even though the Olympics are over, people are still talking about them because this year was different. We need Olympians like Alysa to change the game and raise the stakes. The more positive influences and role models we have, the more positive the world will be.
