After a shock retirement at age 16 and a trek to Mount Everest, Alysa Liu just completed the ultimate comeback. How did the skating prodigy go from burnout to Olympic gold in Milan?Alysa Liu has been rewriting the rulebook since she was a little girl at the Oakland Ice Center, where coaches quickly spotted something in her that could not be taught. By her early teens, she was landing jumps that most adults struggled to master.Now 20, she is an Olympic champion, a college student, a world record holder, and — as she puts it herself — someone who has already been through “so many midlife crises.”

Liu was born on August 8, 2005, in Richmond, California, the oldest of five siblings, all born through surrogate mothers and egg donors.Her father, Arthur Liu, an attorney who emigrated from China, first brought her to the Oakland Ice Center, where coaches immediately noticed something different about the little girl on the ice.By 2017, she was already competing in advanced novice events. Coaches noticed her speed, rotation, and focus.At 13, Liu became the youngest U.S. women’s national champion in history. She landed three triple Axels across her programs, a technical milestone rarely seen in women’s skating.