MILAN — Alysa Liu arrived at the Olympic figure skating venue Thursday night hopping up and down, more excited for her teammate Amber Glenn than herself. She had watched Glenn’s stellar long program on the shuttle bus over to the Milano Ice Skating Arena and was cheering all the way. Now all she wanted to do was find Glenn and give her a hug.
Liu was an hour and a half away from skating her Olympic long program on what turned out to be the most important night of her life, but instead of worrying about that, she was thinking about someone else: A teammate and a dear friend.
It should then come as no surprise at all that when all was said and done, the most caring, carefree, selfless, happy and optimistic skater in the women’s competition just won the Olympic gold medal.
The Alysa Liu story is absolutely remarkable and utterly unprecedented in figure skating history: She won her first national title at 13. She won her second national title at 14. She retired at 16. She unretired at 18. She won the world championship at 19.
And she just won the Olympic gold medal at 20.
