Alysa Liu has announced her retirement from skating aged just 16. The star was one of America’s brightest young talents and was set for a long and successful senior career.
The teen took to Instagram to reveal her shocking decision this past weekend and stated she is ready to move on from the sport. “Heyyyyy so I’m here to announce that I am retiring from skating. I started skating when I was 5 so that’s about 11 years on the ice and it’s been an insane 11 years,” she began.
“A lot of good and a lot of bad but that’s just how it is. I've made so many friends, and so so sooo many good memories that I’ll have for the rest of my life. I honestly never thought I would've accomplished as much as I did, I’m so happy.
“I feel so satisfied with how my skating career has gone. Now that I’m finally done with my goals in skating, I'm going to be moving on with my life. This skating thing has taught me a lot more about life than I anticipated. I'm really glad I skated.”
Liu has won two US skating championships, with the second coming in 2020 when she was just 14 years old. During her first national title, the skater used the triple axel that few US women have landed successfully.
She went on to compete in February’s Beijing Winter Olympics, despite having to withdraw from the trials in January after testing positive for Covid-19. She went on to finish seventh in the free stake event, before claiming a bronze medal at the 2022 World Figure Skating Championships last month.
During her time in Beijing, Liu and father Arthur, a former political refugee, were the targets of a spying operation that the Justice Department alleges was ordered by the Chinese government. He recalled an incident last November when he was contacted by someone claiming to be an official with the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), asking for his and his daughters’ passport numbers.
"I didn’t feel good about it. I felt something fishy was going on," he said. "From my dealings with the US Figure Skating association, they would never call me on the phone to get copies of our passports. I really cut it short once I realised what he was asking for.” While at the Games however, Alysa informed her father she was approached by a stranger one evening, who then followed her and asked her to come to his apartment.
Speaking more on the operation, Liu added: "I’ve kind of accepted my life to be like this because of what I chose to do in 1989, to speak up against the government. And I know the Chinese government will extend their long hands into any corner in the world."
