MILAN (AP) — Alysa Liu had just delivered a near-flawless Olympic free skate on Thursday night, one that left a packed crowd inside the Milano Ice Skating Arena standing and roaring, when a television camera zoomed in on the American star as she was heading off the ice.
“That’s what I’m f—————— talking about!” Liu shouted into the lens.
Oh, they’ll be talking about her for quite a while.
The 20-year-old from the San Francisco Bay Area, who walked away from the sport before finding her way back again — and finding herself in the process — delivered the U.S. its first women’s figure skating gold medal in 24 years. She finished with 226.79 points to upstage Japanese teammates Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai, who took silver and bronze at the Milan Cortina Games.
“I think my story is more important than anything to me,” Liu said, her frenulum piercing glinting in the light as she smiled, “and that’s what I will hold dear, and this journey has been incredible, and my life has just been — I have no complaints.”
The moment Nakai’s score was read after the final program of the night, U.S. teammate Amber Glenn jumped into the kiss-and-cry and raised Liu’s hand in triumph. Liu sheepishly turned and applauded the 17-year-old Nakai, who raced over and hugged her.
It was the first individual gold medal for an American woman since 2002, when Sarah Hughes stood atop the podium in Salt Lake City, and it was the second gold for Liu at the Milan Cortina Games. She and Glenn helped the Americans win team gold.
“Her story of taking a step back, mental health, I think it really attests to you never know what the journey to success is going to be,” said Glenn, who finished fifth. “I really hope that can reach the skating community, that it’s OK to take time.”
It was a bittersweet silver medal for Sakamoto, the three-time world champion, who intends to retire after this season. One of the most popular figure skaters of her generation earned a bronze medal four years ago in Beijing and had her heart set on gold.
“I’m really regretful,” said Sakamoto, who finished with 224.90 points. “I feel like I’m so disappointed, to be honest.”
Liu’s latest gold medal, meanwhile, blended right into her glittering gold-sequined dress, only the blue ribbon standing out. And it seemed the perfect complement to the golden stripes running through her dark brown hair, which are meant to resemble the growth rings on a tree.
Liu has done a whole lot of growing up over the years.
She was the youngest U.S. champion ever when she won the first of back-to-back titles at 13 years old. But after finishing sixth at the Beijing Games, Liu was so burned out that she abruptly retired. She spent the next two years doing bucket-list things like climbing up to the base camp of Mount Everest and enrolling at UCLA, where she is studying psychology.
It was on a skiing trip a couple of years ago, when Liu felt the same familiar adrenaline rush she once felt while skating, that she began to think about a comeback. But this time, Liu would be skating on her terms, more carefree and self-assured than she’d been as a child prodigy, when her life revolved around the practice rink.
“I mean, it’s just how my life has gone,” Liu said, shrugging. “Everything in general has led me to this point.”
Even during warmups Thursday night, Liu skated with a grin on her face, never showing any outward signs of pressure. She took the time to wave at friends and family in the stands who had been keeping her out late for dinners, which she called “super fun.”
“What I was feeling,” Liu said, “was happy and confident.”
Glenn must have felt the same way a couple of hours earlier. She had to perform long before her friend and teammate following a disappointing short program two nights prior. But Glenn rebounded in spectacular fashion, and her season-best free skate not only gave her a score of 214.91 points but it nearly put her on the podium, too.
Glenn pumped her fist and fought back tears when her score was read, then she took a seat in the new “leader’s chair.”
“It was nice to watch some great figure skating up close,” Glenn said, “but it’s also conflicting, because you want to stay there but you don’t want to wish mistakes on anybody else.”
She wound up staying there for quite a while.
Adeliia Petrosian, an 18-year-old Russian competing as a neutral athlete, tried the only quadruple jump during the women’s competition but fell on the quad toe loop. She was clean the rest of the way, but the points Petrosian lost on that fall ended up leaving her less than a half-point behind Glenn sitting in the leader’s chair.
“I feel a little ashamed,” Petrosian said, after taking a few minutes to compose herself, “for myself, for the federation, for my coaches and for the spectators that it went this way. I understand that it’s my own fault.”
It wasn’t until Mone Chiba — the ninth skater to follow Glenn to the ice — that the three-time U.S. champ was bumped from her spot.
Chiba’s stint in the leader’s chair didn’t last nearly as long.
Liu, who last year captured the first world title by an American woman since 2006, was perfect from her opening triple flip to her closing combination sequence. As the last bits of Donna Summer’s version of “MacArthur Park” faded away, and the roar of the fans filled the void, Liu gave a casual flip of her ponytail as if to say, “So what?”
Her coaches, Phillip DiGuglielmo and Massimo Scali, were a little more rambunctious. They punched the air, gave each other a big hug, then headed over to greet their star pupil when she stepped off the ice to await her score.
The score that ultimately would give her an Olympic title and end a long drought for U.S. women.
“I don’t need this,” Liu said of the gold medal hanging around her neck, “but what I needed was the stage, and I got that. So it was all good, no matter what happened. I mean, if I fell on every jump, I would still be wearing this dress. So it’s all good.”
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