For someone who walked away from figure skating at 16 after losing her “joy,” 20-year-old Alysa Liu returned to the ice on her own terms and made history. On February 19, she became the first American woman since 2002 to win an individual Olympic gold. You’d think a moment like that would mean nonstop interviews, medal selfies, and media appearances, but Liu did something different as she recently revealed how she spent the 5 days after the Olympics.

Instead of rushing back into the spotlight, Liu chose to rest, catch up with friends, and enjoy life outside the rink. In a Teen Vogue interview, she shared her mindset: “I pick hanging out with my friends over a session, and if that makes me a worse skater, so be it. I don’t care. I will jeopardize whatever.”

After an intense Olympic schedule where she won two gold medals, one with Team USA in the team figure skating event and another in the individual women’s singles competition, Liu wanted nothing more than to breathe!

“After I won, [there] was no sleep…. I went home, and I literally did whatever I wanted for five days. I didn’t have any media, and I had no commitments, so it was really great. I got to see a lot of my friends again, and just relax and catch up on sleep. I skated twice just because I wanted to,” Alysa Liu shared.

Alysa Liu returned to the Bay Area, where she grew up, trained, and spent her downtime surrounded by the people who matter most. Friends and family visited her, and they shared meals (including some much-needed Chinese food she loves). For most figure skater athletes like Kaori Sakamoto, Ami Nakai, or even Ilia Malinin, the usual post-Olympic routine meant interviews, appearances, and immediate training. But Liu chose a quieter and more grounded path!

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Even so, she hasn’t disappeared from the world stage at all! She has been caught with her two unexpectedly heavy gold medals in a strawberry-colored nylon grocery bag, meeting celebrities like Daniel Radcliffe. Yet she handles it all casually like she’s just won a pickup basketball game.

Part of her ease may come from the way she views hard work. “I love pushing myself,” Liu says. Alysa Liu explains the aMCC – a part of the brain linked to willpower and her joy comes from tackling challenges she doesn’t want to do. “I get a kick out of it, and that’s where I’m happy,” she says.

Liu’s focus on simple, happy living isn’t new. She showed it before as well, when she left competitive skating to just enjoy life!

Alysa Liu Craved a Life Beyond the Ice

Alysa Liu started skating as early as the age of five, and soon enough, she emerged as one of the most promising young skaters. At the age of 13, she was the youngest women’s champion in the U.S. as she won her first national championship. However, the high level of competition among elites came at a cost. Liu, who finished sixth at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, said she felt burned out and overloaded with the continual pressure and training.

“She became really unhappy,” her father, Arthur Liu, told USA TODAY. “She avoided the ice rink at all costs. She was traumatized… she was suffering from PTSD and wouldn’t go near the ice rink.”

At 16, Alysa Liu made the difficult decision to step away from skating. “I was homeschooled my whole life…I’m a very social person. I crave human connection,” she said. “All I wanted was to be with my family and friends at home, and live like a normal teenage girl.”

During her break, she did things many young adults never get the chance to do, such as attending college at UCLA, getting her driver’s license, trying sports like skiing and snowboarding, and simply spending time with friends and family. “I was going to concerts which I never could have done before,” she told NBC. “I went on vacation for the first time. I went skiing. I went snowboarding. I got to do so many different things that I never would have done had I stayed in the sport.”

Yet even amid this freedom, Liu eventually began to miss what skating offered: the joy, challenge, and the unique sense of purpose it gave her. So she announced her comeback in early 2024 with a simple Instagram post: she was “back on the ice.”

And Alysa Liu’s return wasn’t motivated by pressure or expectation. Speaking to Cosmopolitan, Liu explained: “I went through a whole year of school, and during winter break I went skiing and I realized school was hard but it was not challenging enough for me… Skating gave me something to be strong for.”

And soon after her return, Alysa Liu captured the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships! So, yes, for Liu, it wasn’t just about medals; it was about a simple, balanced life, filled with joy and freedom, which was exactly the life she had always wanted.