The Golden World of Alysa Liu

Figure skater Alysa Liu felt happy and confident at the 2026 Olympics. She skated off with a gold medal!

Alysa Liu performs in the free skate at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Before Alysa Liu took to the ice to perform her gold-medal-winning routine at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, the American figure skater had already made peace with either winning or losing. She simply came to show her joy of skating to the world.

“The feelings I had out there were calm, happy and confident,” she said in an interview with NBC. “These titles are huge, but I don’t want them to overshadow who I am…. Winning isn’t all that, and neither is losing.”

Focused on performing for herself and the fans, Liu skated to a joyful disco-themed routine that propelled her to the top of the podium.

Gold medalist Alysa Liu (center) celebrates her Olympic win, along with silver medalist Kaori Sakamoto (left) of Japan and bronze medalist Ami Nakai, also of Japan.

While Liu’s serenity may have helped her win, it also led to an even bigger breakthrough: a change in the conversation around mental health and pressure in elite sports.

Liu skated competitively from a young age and even went to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing at just 16, placing sixth overall. Shortly after this, she unexpectedly announced her retirement, saying she was burned out and yearned to live a normal teenage life. For two years, Liu focused on studying, traveling, new hobbies, and spending time with family and friends.

Almost as unexpectedly as her retirement, Liu returned to skating in 2024. Now skating on her own terms, Liu said she is focusing on her love for the sport instead of trying to be the best.

“‘[This is] a better version’ of me,” she said in an interview with Olympics.com. “I chose to be here…. When I started when I was five, I had no idea what I was getting into…. I was able to come back and choose my own destiny.”

Antonin Thuillier—AFP/Getty Images

Alysa Liu skates the routine that helped earn her the Olympic gold medal.

Liu hopes her story can lead to a positive shift in understanding about athletes, pressure, and mental health.

“I hope that with all this attention, I can at least raise awareness about mental health and sports and mental health in general,” Liu told NBC. “And I think my story is pretty cool, and so I hope that inspires some people as well.”

Did You Know?

Humans have been ice skating for nearly 4,000 years!

There’s evidence that people in Scandinavian countries made simple skates with animal bones and leather straps. These ancient “skates” didn’t have a sharp edge but could glide across frozen lakes.

© Museum of London/Heritage Images—Hulton Archive/Getty Images

These bones were once used as ice skates. They date back to about the 12th century.

Making Olympic History

March is Women’s History Month! On the heels of the 2026 Winter Olympics, let’s look back at some inspiring athletes who made sports history on the international Olympic stage.

Jumping Over Barriers: Alice Coachman

(Left) Alice Coachman competes in the high bar at the 1948 Olympics and (right) stands on the podium ready to receive her gold medal.

Track star Alice Coachman became the first Black woman to win Olympic gold when she competed in the 1948 Olympics in London. Coachman grew up during the era of segregation in the United States, meaning she had to train in unfair conditions. Still, she proved race was no barrier to athletic excellence when she won gold in the women’s high jump event.

A Perfect 10: Nadia Comaneci

(Left) Nadia Comaneci does the uneven bar routine that earned her a perfect 10 and (right) celebrates after winning a gold medal at the 1976 Olympics.

Athletes may always dream of earning perfect scores, but Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci became the first in her sport to make this dream come true. At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Comaneci was the first ever to earn a perfect 10 score, after a flawless routine on the uneven bars. The result was so unexpected that the scoreboard showed a “1.0” score because it couldn’t display the number 10!

Homecoming Win: Cathy Freeman

Cathy Freeman is shown on her way to winning the women’s 400-meter sprint at the 2000 Olympics.

Australia’s Cathy Freeman is known for two Olympic firsts. The sprinter became the first Aboriginal Australian athlete to compete at the Olympic level in 1992. She then won gold for the 400-meter sprint eight years later at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. This historic win as the first-ever Aboriginal Australian to receive an individual gold medal was extra special because it happened in her home country.

Swimming in Gold: Trischa Zorn-Hudson

Trischa Zorn-Hudson competes in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke at the 2000 Paralympic Games.

The most successful athlete in Paralympic history is swimmer Trisha Zorn-Hudson, who has won a whopping 41 gold medals! Zorn-Hudson, who is a visually impaired swimmer from the United States, competed across seven Paralympic Games between 1980 to 2004. She holds a total of 55 Olympic medals.

The Secrets of Skating

Adam Siao Him Fa of France competes at the 2026 Olympics in Milan, Italy.

What do the words axel, salchow, and lutz all have in common? They are all figure skating jumps! Figure skating may look effortless, but the athletes need to work hard to pull off such complicated moves.

Read more about figure skating at Britannica!

WORD OF THE WEEK

sanguine

PART OF SPEECH:

adjective

Definition:

: confident and hopeful

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Decipher

Unscramble the words to reveal a common saying or expression.

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“In the News: The Golden World of Alysa Liu.” Britannica School, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 6 Mar. 2026. https://news.eb.com/level2/the-golden-world-of-alysa-liu. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026 [Replace this date with today’s date.]