Alysa Liu retired from figure skating at 16 – and returned with joy as her only goal.
Competitive, high-stakes sport churns athletes out. After intensive training, demanding hours and physical exhaustion, the inevitable crash leaves many burnt out, permanently injured and retired too young.
Alysa Liu knows this pattern all too well. The American figure skater began skating at 5-years-old and after a career marked with milestones and world records, withdrew from skating at 16.
She stated she had completed her goals in skating and that she felt “so satisfied with how my skating career has gone.”
She continued with school, forgot how awful fame feels, and re-connected with herself.
2 years later she felt the itch to return to the ice. She was careful to return for the right reasons, which meant competing on her own terms, her music, and in her own, now iconic, style. And so, in 2024, training began, slowly, again for Liu.
She would go on to win two gold medals at the Milano Winter Olympics. At 20-years-old, she is the first woman to win figure skating gold for America in 24 years.
By disregarding podiums and medals, Liu has felt her self identity return. She participates purely for doing it, instead of winning it. It sounds so corny, and yet, is a promising challenge to the toxic status quo of elite sports.
In an intense and rigorous environment, keeping mentally healthy does not appear as a priority for elite athletes. Those who advocate for it now, such as Michael Phelps and Simone Biles, do so with great caution.
Liu is part of a new generation shifting the pressure off winning. In the years to come, Liu will surely be studied, write a hit memoir or even a TED Talk. Who knew giving less of a fuck actually helped? Alysa Liu did.
