The 2026 Winter Olympics have concluded and there have been so many takeaways from the games this year. Team USA had their first black women on the Women’s Hockey Team, Team USA took home the most gold medals in the team’s history with 12 Gold Medals for the Winter games and Alysa Liu became the youngest and only gold medalist in women’s figure skating in 24 years. This accolade she accomplished after coming out of retirement, which she went in at the age of 16. Her story, and her lore, goes beyond this article, however, one thing it supports is how strict, difficult and dangerous the sport is and how often very young ice skaters retire and get burnt out before becoming adults. When returning to the sport, she had one main condition: she was coming back to compete on her terms. No one was going to tell her what she can and cannot eat, she’s in charge of choosing her programs and she’s going out there to prove herself and have fun. She came out victorious and her story and message of competing with joy and no pressure has shown to be the winning method at this year’s games, compared to other competitors like her teammates who weren’t as successful as her.
Throughout the entire games, Alysa competed with grace and always with a smile on her face. She went out to Milan to display her art on the world’s stage. Not to win Gold or to break records, but to just perform. I felt throughout the games that it was noticeable who was folding under pressure or performing very stressed and who wasn’t. I also found that the one’s who seemed at peace or very happy often performed better. Take Team USA’s Amber Glenn, she has won Nationals time after time, yet despite the undeniable talent, you can just see it in her face and presence she was immensely stressed and anxious. Not that there’s anything wrong or not valid about this pressure she was most likely feeling, but it’s unfortunate because it certainly impacted her performances where she messed up each time, losing points in her performances. She ended up pulling through and landing in 5th place in the Women’s skate after underperforming in the short program skate, which shows her hardwork and ability to overcome. However, it’s undeniable how the pressure held her down. Even the top projected skater in the Men’s program, Ilia Malinin, had immense pressure on him with the entire world practically preaching he had gold locked in prior to the games. Being so young, with everyone coming in with preconceived expectations is a lot to deal with, all while also making his Olympic debut like Amber. You could see the panic and uncertainty in his face prior and during his skates and I can’t even imagine all the thoughts racing while on the ice. I feel like the mirroring in how their demeanor came off during their skates compared to their performances really reinforces the thought that the more worried and anxious they were, the worse they were ought to perform. Whereas, Alysa, or even Japan’s Ami Nakai, who just went in competing in what seemed like an artistic and not competitive state of mind, performed so well and elegantly. Comparably, Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto also performed very peacefully and elegantly in my opinion, however in her last skate ever, since she was retiring after these games, you can see her demeanor change as she is putting in the extra stress to try to win Gold, and in this skate she made just one mistake that costed her the medal. I felt like watching that skate, you could see how the stress held her back when she really needed it not to.
Not that any of these skaters aren’t talented, or that anxiety, pressure and stress are unreasonable, but my takeaway from these games is that yes, getting Gold is a great goal, but when you skate with the purpose of skating well and beautifully, you are more likely to reach that goal then when skating with the main goal of only winning. It’s like when watching baseball, a lot of players try to perfect the strategy that makes them very good competitors but I’ve always found that players who play the game to just play often play better anyways. I’m not an athlete, and I’m not an expert in Figure Skating, however as an observer, Alysa’s mission to skate for herself through control in what she performs, how she maintains and takes care of herself, and going out there to have fun has proven more and done more successfully. Even looking back at her old clips from when she skated before she originally retired, you can see the difference in how she feels, comes off and skates then compared to now. Without trying, she changed the game and what the standards should be. For too long, the strict, abusive, and pressuring culture has plagued so many young skaters in the game. But she proved that you don’t have to follow that path and can do things your own way and come out victorious. I feel like her story should show other athletes how to relove their sport and use that love to find success instead. I also hope that her story changes how athletes compete more healthily and shows that you can reach your goals without sacrificing your mental health and happiness.
Every two years, I find myself ever so more obsessed with sports and the different athletes and their stories, and Alysa made it ever so hard not to root for her. She represents all the best things about hard work, perseverance and dedication and she makes an amazing face for how elite sports should be. With that, everything she stood for and represented in this year’s games is a testament of how a shift in mindset can change everything about how you perform and the outcomes from the games.