The further you get into the top echelons of any sport, the more serious it seems like life becomes. I say this as a fan, and a spectator; I've never been a pro or Olympic-level athlete of any kind. You're honing your mind and body and skills, of course, but sometimes it seems like the joy that first propelled you into the sport gets subsumed along the way.
It's probably not gone; if it was gone, you probably wouldn't be able to do what you do. You probably wouldn't have gone out there in the first place, either. Not everyone can follow Alysa Liu's fantastic example of knowing when to back away because it's all too much, then coming back on completely her own terms to win it all. And why? Why was she able to put in the fantastic performance that she did at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics?
Because she was able to breathe, relax, be her excellent self, and just let that shine through. Gold medals weren't the only things she won; untold numbers of hearts, too. Her joy was genuine, and honestly, it was something sorely needed in our current cultural moment.
