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Her father, Oakland attorney Arthur Liu, said, \u201cHer life has changed substantially. I don\u2019t see her anymore!\u201d<\/p>\n
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Along with global exposure and instant recognition, opportunities and sponsorships have rolled in, with television appearances and magazine spreads. She\u2019s inked deals with Louis Vuitton, Lucky Charms, Gillette and Fortnite. She\u2019s rubbed shoulders with Harry Potter (actor Daniel Radcliffe), appeared in a Laufey music video and presented an award to Taylor Swift. In addition to the 28-city Stars on Ice tour in the United States, she\u2019s been to Japan and also to the Met Gala, where she wowed in a Vuitton ruffled dress that made her look like the stem of a red rose.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Alysa Liu departs the 2026 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on May 4.<\/p>\n
Arturo Holmes\/MG26\/Getty Images for the Met Museum<\/p>\n
Arthur saw her that night, watching online as his daughter hobnobbed with the likes of Meta\u2019s Mark Zuckerberg.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she came out with that dress I said, \u2018Oh, my goodness, that\u2019s so beautiful,\u2019\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Liu is learning to agree with Lipinski\u2019s assessment of post-Olympic gold reality.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt is surreal,\u201d Liu said.<\/p>\n
All of these pinch-me moments represent opportunity. An Olympic gold medal still has a unique hold on the American imagination, and a women\u2019s ice skating gold is an especially precious currency, a link to past icons. The metallic disc ignites fashion trends and little girls\u2019 dreams; it represents a bonanza for the sport and riches for its winner.<\/p>\n
\u201cA gold medal can instantly change a career,\u201d said Patrick Rishe, director of the Olin Sports Business program at Washington University in St. Louis. \u201cIn the past, you had a\u00a0rocket ship to instant fame, and you got some deals related to that. But because there wasn\u2019t social media, you had a very small window to capitalize on that gold medal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can absolutely be a catalyst for the future. And that is more true today than ever before, because of the existence of social and digital media, where athletes can be their own storytellers, have Instagram pages, TikTok pages, channels on Twitch, and engage younger audiences. More eyeballs mean dollars for corporate partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Model]()
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Model and influencer Emma\u00a0Chamberlain and gold medal figure skater Alysa Liu at the 2026 Met Gala in New York on May 4.<\/p>\n
Matt Winkelmeyer\/MG26\/Getty Images for the Met Museum<\/p>\n
Liu catapulted to stardom in Milan, with a performance that was so joyous, so devoid of the usual tension and anxiety, that it lifted spirits around the globe.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThat performance, that joy she brought to the ice, was the Alysa Liu effect,\u201d Lipinski said. \u201cMillions of little kids were watching and saying, \u2018I want to go on the ice and be like that.\u2019 It just seeps into pop culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liu has 8.4 million followers on Instagram. She\u2019s a drought-ender: the first American woman to win the skating gold since Sarah Hughes in 2002, the longest stretch of U.S. futility in the modern Olympic era. And she has a unique and inspiring story to tell: She walked away from the sport at age 16, deciding to take charge of her own life and returned\u00a0\u2014 unapologetically\u00a0\u2014 on her own terms.<\/p>\n
In one of her post-Olympic interviews, when asked what she would tell her younger self, Liu laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing,\u201d Liu said. \u201cShe\u2019s got it. She\u2019ll figure it out.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019ll go through it and I don\u2019t want to mess that up.\u201d<\/p>\n
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That bucking of the conventional path makes Liu particularly appealing. Now 20, she\u2019s a true Gen\u00a0Z star, with her pierced gums, halo-striped hair, fashion and music choices and fierce independent streak.<\/p>\n
\u201cA young star in any sport is attractive to marketers because brands want to reach younger people,\u201d said Rishe, an expert in sports economics. \u201cYounger stars tend to have greater stickiness and engagement with younger audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Kid]()
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Kid Mendoza takes a photo of his dog Kozy on Feb. 28 while artists with\u00a0Illuminaries paint a mural of gold medal figure skater\u00a0Alysa Liu on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland.<\/p>\n
Dan Hernandez\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
But even with social media and so many different ways to reach an audience, stickiness still can have a shelf life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t hurt if she goes on to win more medals, but I think that initial splash, that\u2019s the window where visibility is going to be at its highest,\u201d Rishe said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And with that splash, in that whirlwind of opportunity, comes more pressure. But that seems to be one part of the post-Olympic experience that Liu just might be equipped to avoid.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say I thrive under pressure,\u201d Liu said.<\/p>\n
She certainly did at the Olympics, in the kind of heat that makes other athletes crack.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think that (pressure) will really apply to Alysa. and that\u2019s what makes her so unique,\u201d Lipinski said. \u201cThe pressure of the Olympics didn\u2019t faze her. I think she\u2019s probably living in the moment and doing what feels right for her instead of letting other people pressure her. She\u2019s just so refreshing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her father, who was told in no uncertain terms by his daughter when she unretired that she was now in charge of her career, believes that strong-willed streak will serve her well as she figures out this stage of her career.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she makes up her mind, no one can turn it around,\u201d Arthur said. \u201cShe just wants to live her own life, and I think that\u2019s inspiring to many people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think she\u2019s having a ton of fun. She\u2019s all smiles. I think the most important part is that she doesn\u2019t take herself too seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Alysa]()
<\/p>\n
Alysa Liu displays her gold medal after competing in the women\u2019s free skate program at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy.<\/p>\n
Stephanie Scarbrough\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
But the Olympic star-making machine is serious business. There\u2019s no way to truly measure the worth of a gold medal. Gymnast Simone Biles, another Olympian in a sport that pops every four years, is estimated to have a net worth of $25 million. Snowboarder Chloe Kim, a winter Olympian who grew beyond an X Games audience, is estimated to be worth $10 million.<\/p>\n
If Liu does compete in the next Winter Olympics, in the French Alps in 2030, it would be another diversion from the usual path. In the past, American women who won gold promptly left competition: Lipinski and Kristi Yamaguchi turned professional to tour with Stars on Ice, when rules surrounding amateurism were different. Hughes enrolled at Yale the year after winning gold.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI really do take it one season at a time,\u201d said Liu, who disrupted future plans when she walked away from skating at 16. \u201cI learned that firsthand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur estimates that over the years he probably spent a half-million to a million dollars on Liu\u2019s training, eager to cultivate the talent he saw in his daughter at age 5. He was inspired by Michelle Kwan; parents today will be inspired by Liu. Lipinski\u00a0\u2014 who competed during the heyday of skating in the 1990s\u00a0\u2014 predicts Liu\u2019s success will have a big impact on boosting the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s the perfect spokesperson,\u201d Lipinski said. \u201cFor all the good things that come with something you\u2019re talented at and being able to share that with the world. And to do it in a way that doesn\u2019t suffocate you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liu isn\u2019t doing this alone. She has an agent and financial advisers to help her navigate her new reality.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a great team working with me,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m super grateful for all the opportunities, the really cool ones, and I\u2019m obviously selective with them. It\u2019s truly amazing that I get to experience that as an athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Alysa]()
<\/p>\n
Alysa Liu competes during the women\u2019s figure skating free program at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy.<\/p>\n
Francisco Seco\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
The Stars on Ice tour ends in two weeks, and Liu is looking forward to getting back to the Bay Area and doing what she loves best: training.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely need to take a break sometime but I also do want to get back into training, because that\u2019s what I like to do,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She knows that it will be different, being released from the Stars on Ice bubble, where she\u2019s ferried from planes to buses and surrounded by other skaters. She said that so far, in terms of recognition, \u201cI haven\u2019t had to deal with the worst of it yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s part of the price of being a global celebrity, with \u201cpinch-me\u201d moments and vast opportunity. For Alysa Liu, it\u2019s a whole new world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift accepts the Artist of the Year award from Alysa Liu onstage at the 2026 iHeartRadio Music…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":797645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[250181,2122,276,185,15175,171,3777,62,67,132,68,324557,1707],"class_list":{"0":"post-797644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-alysa-liu","9":"tag-arts-and-entertainment","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-celebrities","12":"tag-east-bay","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-olympics","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-us-and-world","20":"tag-womens-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116577345620438063","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}