Finally Had Time to Watch Alysa Liu's Final Skate ...

I felt like I was watching her practice alone in an empty arena, she was so casual and effortless about it, like she didn't care about the outcome, just in love with the feeling of being on that ice and what she can accomplish on it.

Absolutely flawless performance, simply amazing ... 

 

My favorite element of ice-skating isn't the jumps so much as the spins - specifically, the layback spin that kind of morphs into the upright or "scratch" spin, so elegant - they look like spinning ballerinas in a music box.

(Although her jumps were perfectly executed as well.)

Here, at 4 minutes, Alysa kind of melds one into the other, then ends the spin in the very difficult Biellmann spin (one leg held over her head by either one or both hands while spinning)!

You know they're done well when it makes every girl watching, young or old, want to skate, too  😊

(Except it's not as effortless as Alysa makes it look!)

Though it's normal to hesitate a half-second before a big jump to get  into position, some skaters hesitate too long in setting up for the jumps, you can literally see them drop everything setting up in anticipation of them like "Okay, big jump coming" -  but not Alyssa - her transitions were so quick it appeared seamless.

As much as I love, love, LOVE Johnny Weir, IMO, this is why he didn't medal in the Olympics. Although he is an incredibly skilled skater, with a beautiful artistic  design concept - and no one is better at creating an ambience/mood when they skate -  you could still see him hesitate and "drop the show" for too long in anticipation of his jumps. 

(Not that I could've ever done any of this on my best day, just saying those that hesitate a few seconds longer before jumps tend not to medal.)

Alyssa gets the details right AND the big picture show, which is why she won gold!

I didn't know her story at all until after I watched this video, but I could feel it in her skate before I read it.

So her father came to the U.S. in asylum after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, and claims that the Chinese Government has continued to stalk him - and his daughter - for years, both to try to  both reclaim him and claim her, as their talent.

Not sure what all went on there, but what is for certain is that her father really kind of pushed her into skating as a Michelle Kwan fan himself, and she fell out of love with it, especially during and after COVID, unable to practice and compete, on the cusp of age groups to compete when figure skating returned.

She also broke her hip a few years ago. 

Then in 2022, she retired from skating, just to have a "normal" life, but decided to return, now on her terms, making her own choices for coaches and routines - no longer skating for her father or to obtain medals for herself or country - but now, just for love of the sport.

Skating on her terms took the pressure off - and it shows in her skating, her relaxed, "for the love of skating" style of performance. 

She's also got this adorable mix of innocence and wild child in appearance and personality, which I personally love.

Brava, Alysa!  

You make us proud to be American again (and it's been a long time).