When it comes to the Olympics, the goal for every contestant in every event is to win. Their ‘mission’ as perceived by the audience is to win the gold medal, which is not only a symbol of victory for the participant but also for their nation as a whole. This encourages the audience to assume each athlete is out for blood and embraces a very serious outlook on their training, performance, and preparation. This is simply not true – look at Alysa Liu.
Alysa Liu is this year’s 2026 Winter Olympic Champion, as she won the gold medal in Women’s Figure Skating. This accomplishment in and of itself is noteworthy, but the journey Alysa took to get to the top of the podium is where the real story lies.
Alysa began skating at age 5, spending over a decade training and competing at the highest levels. She achieved many historic milestones, becoming the youngest U.S. Women’s Champion at thirteen, and later, the first American woman to land a quadruple jump. Despite this success, Alysa wasn’t satisfied – she felt as if her focus was forced upon skating, developing emotional exhaustion and unhappiness. Her father mentioned how she began to experience trauma and symptoms of PTSD related to the pressures of competition.
This all came to a head in April of 2022, shortly after competing in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. During this period of rest, she began to explore other interests, namely in fashion, other sports, and finally, taking the time to be a teenager. This period of time allowed her to gain a more worldly perspective and return to skating with a rediscovered passion on her own terms. Alysa returned to the sport in 2024 with a completely different mindset – and this mindset shift is one anyone could benefit from.
Rather than treating the sport as a job or an expectation, she treated figure-skating as an outlet for artistic expression and freedom. By using her sport as a means of self-expression, and truly feeling free in the performances, her joy radiates through them. This doesn’t mean she is backing away from challenges within her sport – instead embracing those challenges and overcoming them with a smile. Because there is no pressure in her practice, there is nothing wrong with struggling a little.
This same mindset can be applied to anyone, doing anything. All we ever have to ask ourselves is “Is it ever that serious?” and the answer, over half the time, will be “No.” That’s what Alysa is doing – in a sense. By viewing her sport as an outlet, a passion that she chooses to participate in for fun and removing the competitive pressure, she’s allowing herself to grow and change without criticism from herself. She also gave herself space to understand what exactly bothered her about the environment, and figured out the appropriate reaction to this environment that allows her to enjoy her sport while remaining competitive in it. This mindset shift could be an obstacle; removing the pressure could make someone slack off, but with a genuine love for her sport, Alysa continued to push herself and grow as an athlete as well.
Everyone is aware of who their worst critic is – themselves. Removing the mental pressure that you place on yourself in the workplace, academic, and even social environments allows you room to breathe and be you. Alysa is proof that success can come from such a mindset – she just won an Olympic gold medal!
Staff Writers: Brett Hamilton and Anika Rehberg