Now, when she’s come back, the magic about her is that you get to see who she is as the athlete. There were around 13,000 people in the [Milano Ice Skating Arena].
Those are the people she was performing for, but she was also performing for her family and for the millions of people watching on TV or Instagram or wherever they consume their media. She feels like she just wants to show her art, and it comes across in a different way than the other athletes that we have in our sport.
What is it about her style? She’s called the queen of the triple axels, but what else is she doing?
Because she’s taken ownership of her sport, of her performances, of her training, it just comes from inside of her. It’s not about the coaches and not the training facility. It’s only about Alysa trying to do the best that she can, and all of our whole team supporting her.
Take us back to the Winter Olympics in Milan. What moment stands out to you?
Alyssa in this crazy gold sequined dress that looks like she just walked out of Studio 54 in 1978. Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park” is playing, and the whole crowd gets into that vibe.
It’s like she is skating around, floating on the ice, doing these difficult triple combinations. The spins, the step sequences and the split jumps are all perfectly on the music.
The audience feels like they are part of it. At the end, she grabs her foot and pulls it above her head, and it turns into like a disco ball.
She ends in this pose with her right arm up with her finger pointing straight up to the sky, No.1.
Now that that has all happened, what are you hearing from her? She’s become a star known around the world. And I imagine that there’s more joy that comes with that, but also a lot of pressure.
She is worried for these next few months. Being recognized on the street, everywhere she goes. She’ll be able to handle it with time, but it’s going to be a challenge.
She’s very busy, and she’s bringing a lot of attention to figure skating. Alysa has some new lessons to learn — how to balance this kind of attention. I don’t want to say “fame,” but maybe it is fame.
Clarification: Alysa Liu has said on social media that her family moved around a lot to various places, including Richmond. Liu has said she spent most of her life in Oakland.