Alysa Liu’s Most Powerful Quotes — And Why Olympic Gold Was Inevitable
Alysa Liu, 20, scored 226.79 to win Olympic gold in women’s singles figure skating, ending a 24-year drought for American women — then said the medal was never really the point.
KEY FACTS:
- Liu posted a score of 150.20 and a total of 226.79 at the women’s individual skate, a mark the rest of the Olympic field couldn’t touch.
- Silver medalist Kaori Sakamoto and bronze medalist Ami Nakai, both of Japan, came closest.
- Liu is the first American woman to win Olympic singles gold since Sarah Hughes in 2002.
- She became the first American woman since Sasha Cohen at the 2006 Turin Games to medal in singles figure skating.
- Liu retired from skating in 2022 at age 16 after competing at the Beijing Winter Olympics, then returned in 2024.
She Retired at 16, Came Back on Her Own Terms
Liu left the sport after the Beijing Games, then came back two years later with a new relationship to skating.
“I went through a whole year of school, and during winter break, I went skiing and I realized school was hard, but it was not challenging enough for me,” she told Cosmopolitan in January 2026. “I got into other things, like fashion, but I never went to the gym. Skating gave me something to be strong for.”
She stopped seeing skating as something she had to do and started seeing it as a creative outlet that brought together the things she cared about: dance, music, design, physical challenge.
“I love skating dresses and helping with the design process. This sport is kind of an outlet for me. I love dance and music, so it’s everything in one,” she explained to the outlet.
She Warned Skating Officials: Don’t Try to Change Me
Liu’s coaches warned her that some judges and “higher-ups” might “be concerned” with her look. Her response, per Cosmo:
“I said if they tell me to dye my hair back, I will quit. If they don’t like it and they want to give me less scores or treat me differently, that’s on them. If I change my hair, it’s gonna be because I wanted to.”
She also told the magazine: “No one tells me what I’m gonna wear. No one tells me how my hair is gonna be. No one’s gonna try to change me.”
The Post-Gold Quote That Turned Heads
After winning, Liu skated off the ice, looked into the camera and said, “That’s what I’m f***ing talking about!”
Then she offered a statement that ran counter to the typical triumphant post-competition interview. Cupping the medal around her neck, she said: “I don’t need this. But what I needed was a stage, and I got that. So I was all good, no matter what. If I fell on every jump, I would still be wearing this dress, so it’s all good.”
Her Take on Pressure: ‘I Love Struggling’
When asked whether she feels stressed at the Olympics, Liu didn’t hedge.
“Oh hell no. … Competitions are where I’m least stressed because people get to see what I do. That’s why I do it. So I can share my work,” per NBC.
According to a 60 Minutes feature in early 2026, Liu shared: “I love struggling, actually. It makes me feel alive.”
Her Philosophy on Failure
“What I like to share about myself is my story, my art and my creative process,” she told NBC News. “I guess messing up doesn’t take away from that. It’s still something, it’s still a story. A bad story is still a story, and I think that’s beautiful. There’s no way to lose.”
If the goal is expression rather than perfection, every attempt adds to the body of work. The stumbles become part of the narrative rather than disqualifying moments.
Her Message
“(Do) stuff that people tell you you shouldn’t do,” Liu said, per The Athletic. “I’ve been doing a lot of that. You also have to find a good team. I’m so grateful to find such great support around me. My friends really hold me down. So that, no matter what happens in my life, I think I have a beautiful life story, and I feel really lucky.”
BOTTOM LINE: Liu’s gold medal challenges the default assumption that elite performance requires conformity, suffering in silence, and treating the outcome as everything — she won by treating the stage, not the medal, as the point.
Production of this article included the use of AI. It was reviewed and edited by a team of content specialists.
