On Thursday, March 12, the 20-year-old two-time gold medalist, who has taken the world by storm after becoming the first American woman to win an individual Olympic gold medal in 24 years during the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, was honored with a rally<\/a> in front of Oakland City Hall at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza that brought hundreds.<\/p>\n Mayor Barbara Lee presented the athlete with a key to the city where she grew up, still lives, and continues to train at a rink not far from where the rally took place. The event also drew notable names from and connected to the region, including R&B star Kehlani, rapper G-Eazy, comedian W. Kamau Bell, Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry, rapper P-Lo (who recently released a song about Liu), and others.<\/p>\n Kehlani, left, embraces Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu during a rally celebrating Liu\u2019s accomplishments at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics on March 12, 2026 in Oakland, California. Liu won the United States first gold medal in women\u2019s singles figure skating since 2002. (Photo by Benjamin Fanjoy\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n \u201cCan y\u2019all make some noise for my GOAT? Come on, Alysa,\u201d Kehlani told the crowd after performing her Grammy Award-winning hit \u201cFolded,\u201d according to the San Francisco Chronicle<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s actually so insane how much talent that Oakland breeds \u2026 like across all genres of talents.\u201d<\/p>\n P-Lo also thanked the athlete \u201cfor embodying what Oakland and what the Bay Area represents.\u201d<\/p>\n Kehlani also used her time onstage to celebrate her alma mater, Oakland School for the Arts, which Liu attended for one semester during middle school.<\/p>\n Musical artist Kehlani sings at a rally celebrating Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu\u2019s accomplishments at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics on March 12, 2026 in Oakland, California. Liu won the United States first gold medal in women\u2019s singles figure skating since 2002. (Photo by Benjamin Fanjoy\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be anywhere I am today or doing anything I\u2019m doing without everything that Oakland School for the Arts instilled in me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Famous alumni from the charter school, founded in 2002, also include Zendaya and her \u201cEuphoria\u201d co-star Angus Cloud, who died in 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cImma appreciate Oakland \u2019till the day I die,\u201d Kehlani concluded.<\/p>\n Attendees hold signs during a rally celebrating Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu\u2019s accomplishments at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics on March 12, 2026 in Oakland, California. Liu won the United States first gold medal in women\u2019s singles figure skating since 2002. (Photo by Benjamin Fanjoy\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Liu, who has become an Olympic darling following her breakthrough performance in Milan, has also been on an international victory lap that included a stop at Paris Fashion Week, where she rubbed shoulders with Zendaya and other luminaries. Still, she reportedly did not want a traditional parade, The Athletic<\/a> noted, as many cities organize for returning Olympians. Instead, a rally that celebrated both her achievement and the city all at once proved a more fitting tribute for the figure skater whose horizontal brown-and-blonde striped hair, face piercings, spunky interviews, and blend of pure talent and elegance on the ice have made her as memorable for her individuality as for her historic achievements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kehlani, Steph Curry, W. Kamau Bell, and more come out to celebrate Olympic figure skating star Alysa Liu…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[4173,64618,7000,77970,143,10000,145,144,78205,91646,87449,7572,2540],"class_list":["post-220862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-2026-winter-olympics","tag-alysa-liu","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-kehlani","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-city-hall","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-oakland-school-for-the-arts","tag-olympic-figure-skating","tag-olympic-gold-medal","tag-steph-curry","tag-w-kamau-bell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Kehlani,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/213773b8832f35a9b3fd3422b712eb5f.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Musical](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/b4994027d1698a6d777b7d32f692e1c0.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Attendees](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/49b54f48405e5406ffacbca366fef3e4.jpeg\"\/)
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