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Alysa Liu Makes History With Gold Medal Win at 2026 Olympics
Alysa Liu isn’t skating around her experience as a young athlete.
The pro figure skater—who rose to fame after winning two gold medals at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics—revealed that while training for the sport, she was encouraged to refrain from drinking water.
“They were like 'Water weight, you shouldn't drink water,'” Alysa told Rolling Stone in an interview published Mar. 7. “’You should gargle it.’ It's crazy. It's insane.”
In fact, Alysa’s grueling training experience is part of the reason she “hated skating” by age 14, ultimately leading to her brief retirement.
“I started to hate it because I thought that that’s where all my issues stemmed from,” she explained. “And so at 16 I quit.”
The 20-year-old also opened up about how the sport’s isolation during the Covid pandemic pushed her to take the four-year hiatus from the ice.
“You’re 14, you’re not going to school,” she said, “you’re not seeing your friends, you’re training like working so hard for what? And I didn’t even know what I was doing it for anymore. It was all really difficult.”
“And I was living alone, too, for a long time from 14 to 16,” she added. “So, yeah, it’s not ideal.”
Since making history as the first Team USA women’s figure skater to take home the gold in 24 years, Alysa has also recently been open about the price of her newfound fame.
Qian Jun/MB Media/Getty Images
"So I land at the airport & there's a crowd waiting at the exit with cameras & things for me to sign," Alysa shared in a March 4 Instagram Story. "All up in my personal space. Someone chased me to my car bruh."
She concluded her message with a plea, adding, "Please do not do that to me."
And this wouldn’t be the first time that the gold medalist has expressed her desire to keep a low profile. After all, she recently shared her hopes for her life to stay exactly how it is—plus a few Olympic titles, of course.
Gillette Venus
"I want my life to stay as similar as possible every way and no one has thought that it would," she told E! News in February, "but I'm really going to try to keep my peace because I like my life. I don't want it to be too chaotic. I want it to stay calm and peaceful and chill."
As she noted, "Privacy is a big one."
But Alysa isn’t the only athlete who made history at the 2026 Winter Olympics. For more impressive wins, read on…
Sarah Stier/Getty Images
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo
The Norwegian cross-country skier earned six gold medals at the 2026 Olympics, bringing his career total to 11 and making him the most-awarded gold medalist in Winter Games history.
Jiang Qiming/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images
Jordan Stolz
The American speed skater didn't just earn gold in the men's 1000m, he also set a new Olympic record with a time of 1:06.28.
(Days later, he set yet another Olympic speed skating record.)
Hu Huhu/Xinhua via Getty Images
Pinheiro Braathen
The ski racer danced his way into the history books when he won Olympic gold. Not only did the medal mark Brazil's first Winter Games medal in history, but it was also the first for all of South America.
Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
Chloe Kim
With her silver medal win in the women's snowboarding halfpipe, the Team USA athelete became the first woman to win three consecutive medals in the event.
She also became the first female snowboarder to land a cab double 1080 in an Olympic halfpipe final.
Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Laila Edwards
The 22-year-old is the first Black woman to play for Team USA women's hockey at the Olympics.
Alex Slitz/Getty Images
Regina Martínez Lorenzo
The cross-country skier is the first woman to represent Mexico in the sport at the Olympics.
François-Xavier MARIT / AFP via Getty Images
Cory Thiesse & Korey Dropkin
The Americans earned the Unites States' first medal in mixed doubles curling with their silver medal finish.
Al Bello/Getty Images
Nicole Burger
The skeleton athlete is the first South African woman to represent her country in the event at the Olympics.
Federica Vanzetta/Nordic Focus/Getty Images
Ben Ogden
The Team USA cross-country skier ended a 50-year medal drought for the United States in the men’s sprint classical race when he picked up a silver medal.
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