Alysa Liu
- Thread starter Spirals for Miles
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- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
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I was able to read the whole article, but do not have a subscription. It has a lot of embedded ads that you have to scroll past.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2011
unfortunately it won't let me read it at all unless i sign up
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
- Country
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I wonder whether it is something in pop up blockers? I am reading on my phone; sometimes it is more forgiving.
Olympic skater Alysa Liu says leaving competition ‘the best decision I ever made’
You might have thought you’d have many years to see Alysa Liu skate.
Instead, her appearance with the Stars on Ice tour in San Jose on Sunday is one of the dwindling chances to see the East Bay native perform.
Liu, just 16 and with one Olympics to her name, announced on Instagram in March that she is retiring from figure skating.
“I made the decision for myself a while ago, way before the Olympics,” Liu said in a recent phone interview. “My only goal was to go to the Olympics.
“I’m only 16. I want to do other stuff.”
It was a startling decision for a young skater who often was called “the future” of American skating. She was the youngest U.S. champion in history, winning the title at 13 and again at 14. She was the youngest female to land a triple axel internationally and the first U.S. woman to land a quadruple jump in competition.
But “the future” wasn’t what she wanted for her future.
Liu’s is the type of personal choice that we’re not accustomed to seeing.
The typical story line is that the ingenue becomes internationally competitive, makes an Olympics (or Grand Slam or whatever the top competition is), participates, sticks around, gets older, maybe doesn’t know when to leave. The forces invested in the athlete — parents, coaches, sponsors, federations, peers — make an individual decision to give up the expensive, all-consuming sport seem almost impossible.
But young athletes are taking more control over their lives. Australian tennis player Ash Barty retired at 25, shortly after winning her third Grand Slam in January.
And now Liu, at 16.
She has been skating since she was 5 and wants her own life. She wants to hang out with her four younger siblings, live at her house in Richmond, apply to college, spend time with friends, get her driver’s license, play the piano, cuddle with her cat Xiao Bao.
All things she couldn’t do while she pursued an Olympic-level skating career.
“I have no regrets,” she said. “I’m sure it would be the opposite, if I stayed in skating. I’d have regrets.”
Like so many Olympians, Liu had a particularly tough stretch leading up to the Beijing Olympics. She trained in Oakland but had limited ice time at the height of the pandemic, having to go in and out of the building with her skates already on, skating alone and doing warm-ups and other training in a public park.
During the pandemic , she left her longtime coach and then made yet another coaching change months before Beijing. She was dealing with a changing, maturing body. She lived in Europe and then Colorado Springs and was isolated from her father and siblings. She ended up testing positive for the coronavirus while at the Olympic trials in Nashville and couldn’t compete, but petitioned and was selected for the Olympic team. Prior to leaving for Beijing, she called the process “overwhelming.”
But, she says, none of those factors caused her retirement.
“No, it would have gone the same way,” she said. “If I didn’t make the Olympic team, I might have done another four years. That’s the only thing that might have changed my decision. There are just so many other things I want to do.”
Liu’s only Olympics was strange. She was in tightly restricted Beijing. Her competition was overshadowed by the positive drug test by Russian skater Kamila Valieva. Liu was unable to explore her father’s homeland, or visit relatives, or fully experience China beyond peering out the window of the bus to and from her venue.
After the Olympics, it came out that Alysa and her father, Arthur Liu, had been targeted in a spying campaign. The U.S. Justice Department announced charges against a group of men accused of acting on behalf of the Chinese government, stalking and harassing Chinese dissidents.
Arthur Liu later told the Associated Press he was one of the targeted but said that he didn’t share that information with his daughter until after the Olympics. Arthur Liu had protested the Chinese government after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, then emigrated from China and is now an Oakland-based immigration lawyer.
Alysa Liu declined to comment on the situation. On her Instagram she posted, “hi everyone!! the case regarding my family being spied on by the chinese government is beyond sport. if you don’t know about the politics and history of china, please refrain from commenting about it. i am proud of what my dad did for his people in 1989.”
Following the Olympics, in which she finished seventh, Liu skated in the world championships in France, where she won a bronze medal. That competition, too, was strange; the favored Russians were banned in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Despite all the oddness and tension, Liu looks back fondly on her lone Olympics. After all, she has no other experience to which to compare it.
“My experience was pretty good,” she said. “The other stuff didn’t interfere with my goals. I went there to do what I wanted to do. It was fun to be with friends. It was really cool being in the Olympic village and going to Closing Ceremonies.”
And when it was over, she knew it was really over.
“I didn’t really ask (my dad’s) opinion when I decided to retire,” she said. “After all, it’s my life. But he supports my decision.
“It’s the best decision I’ve ever made. It’s purely for myself. I guess it’s selfish.”
In the past few years, mental health has become a huge point of concern for athletes in general, including Olympic athletes, who plunge from relative anonymity into the global spotlight. Liu spoke regularly to a therapist and learned to appreciate skating for herself, not for the results.
In the process, she learned that putting herself first was important.
“I used to be stressed and nervous and scared,” she said in February. “My goal now is to do a good program for myself.”
And now, her goal is to make a good life for herself.
She already has graduated high school and will apply to college for the 2023-24 school year. Her top choices are Stanford, Cal and Barnard, but she knows she may change her mind. She thinks she will study law and business, but she also knows that idea may change.
Liu knows she doesn’t have to decide everything right now, three months before she turns 17. She is well aware that she is young and will have many journeys and roles during her life.
“Olympic skater” was just one of her roles. One she is ready to shed.
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- Nov 12, 2021
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As far as I can see, this article has not been published here yet:
Anyone can read the full text at the link. I don't think there are any access issues.
Anyone can read the full text at the link. I don't think there are any access issues.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2011
Alysa will be skating with Jason Brown in the Sun Valley show September 2.
tickets here:
www.eventbrite.com
tickets here:
Sun Valley on Ice - Sept 2, 2022 Alysa Liu & Jason Brown
Alysa Liu and Jason Brown join the cast of SV on Ice. Buffet doors from 6:30pm. Grandstand gates open 7:50pm.
www.eventbrite.com
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2021
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALYSA! Olympian, US Champion, and World Medalist. Hope you're enjoying life <3
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2017
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Sadly, this show was cancelled due to mechanical failures to the very old rink cooling systems. Both the indoor and outdoor rinks were closed and are pending upgrade to open hopefully by June of next year (2023).Alysa will be skating with Jason Brown in the Sun Valley show September 2.
tickets here:
Sun Valley on Ice - Sept 2, 2022 Alysa Liu & Jason Brown
Alysa Liu and Jason Brown join the cast of SV on Ice. Buffet doors from 6:30pm. Grandstand gates open 7:50pm.
At least Alysa and Jason both got to spend time in SV with their respective families over Labor Day weekend, and turning a sad and unfortunate situation around.
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2018
Does anyone have a high quality version of Alysa's 2019 U.S. Nationals SP? (Or a link to one?) All I could find on YouTube is this 720p version, which isn't great quality...
youtu.be
Alysa Liu (USA) - 2019 US National Figure Skating Championships Short Program
Detroit, Michigan - 2019 U.S. National Figure Skating Championships, Figure Skating, Ladies' Free Skate
youtu.be
Do any of the posts/photos say which school she is attending? I know she had mentioned Stanford as one that appealed to her.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2011
does this mean what i think it means????? 
www.instagram.com
刘美贤 alysa liu on Instagram: "to be continued…"
9,667 likes, 295 comments - alysaxliu on February 26, 2024: "to be continued…"
www.instagram.com
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- Apr 2, 2009
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I've been hoping that it is ever since it popped up on her Instagram! We'll know by Friday, 6am pst!does this mean what i think it means?????
刘美贤 alysa liu on Instagram: "to be continued…"
9,667 likes, 295 comments - alysaxliu on February 26, 2024: "to be continued…"
Well, this certainly is interesting.......
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2011
if it is, i seriously can't say how excited i am. i completely understood why she wanted to step away from skating and be a normal teenager, but i always knew she'd be competitive and have more to give if she returned. and now with a little life experience under her belt, it will only help her skating. having some depth in the US women is so exciting with the thought of Alysa possibly coming back and Bradie hopefully returning next season, plus Lindsay, Ava, Isabeau, Josephine, Sarah and Amber. how awesome would that be.
刘美贤 alysa liu on Instagram: "more info soon"
2,160 likes, 133 comments - alysaxliu on March 1, 2024: "more info soon"
www.instagram.com
