MILAN — Alysa Liu smiled, bopped, leaped, spun and hair-flipped her way to win the women’s figure skating event at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, earning Team USA its first gold medal in the event in 24 years as American figure skating looks to revitalize the once-mainstream sport.
Liu was joined on the podium by Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai, who earned silver and bronze, respectively. Liu’s medal was the first of any color for the U.S. in women’s figure skating since 2006, the last time the Olympics were held in Italy.
Skating in a gold, glittering dress to MacArthur Park by Donna Summer, recognizable with rings of bleached hair, a self-pierced frenulum and a refreshingly effervescent personality in a sport that skews traditional, Liu capped an extraordinary comeback. After burning out as a child prodigy and retiring at age 16, the now 20-year-old Liu returned to the sport two years ago.
“The feelings I felt out there were: calm, happy, and confident,” Liu said Thursday night after her skate. “No matter what happens in my life, I think I have a beautiful life story, and I feel really lucky, and I’m glad that a lot of people are now watching me so that I could show them everything that I’ve come up with in my brain and share my stories.”
Liu’s victory comes as Team USA funding distributions to U.S. Figure Skating, the sport’s national governing body, have broadly held steady over the past two decades, when measured by proportion of overall USOPC distributions to Winter Olympics NGBs.
In terms of revenue, USFS is the third largest of the governing bodies for the eight Winter Olympic sports. The organization brought in $97.6 million over the past four years, a 31% increase over the period from 2009 to 2012 adjusting for inflation, trailing only USA Hockey ($205.5 million) and U.S. Ski & Snowboard ($131.2 million).
Every year, Team USA distributes millions in grants to its individual sport governing bodies, with the biggest chunk distributed based on medal expectancy and future athlete development. In 2024, USFS received $1.42 million in total grants and other assistance from Team USA, which was roughly 7% of the total Winter Olympics distributions. U.S. Ski & Snowboard, which represents the most events and also the largest potential medal haul, led the way with $8.8 million in grants, or 44% of the haul.
Figure skating’s grant money has gradually increased from 6% of the budget during the 2006 Turin cycle to 8% during the 2022 Beijing cycle. Despite the medal drought in women’s singles, traditionally the most popular event among U.S. audiences, the U.S. claimed 11 figure skating podium spots over the five Winter Games leading up to Milan, far more than the two and zero won in luge and biathlon, respectively, whose governing bodies received approximately the same funding from Team USA.
Meanwhile, USFS has embarked on its own marketing program to capitalize on the appeal of Liu and teammates Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito; the governing body has been selling merchandise branding them as “Blade Angels.” Glenn redeemed a costly mistake in the short program to finish fifth. Levito had an uncharacteristic tumble and fell to 12th overall.
Annie White, chief commercial officer for USFS, told Sportico before the women’s event began this week that the appeal of Glenn and Liu in particular has helped drive new sponsor interest from brands that target younger audiences.
Broadly, Liu’s gold medal is likely to assist USFS in its grassroots efforts to grow the sport, particularly ahead of the 2034 Winter Games in Utah.
“There’s been a lot of conversations around, how do we actually start to grow the sport of figure skating in the state of Utah?” she said. “Do we have some storylines where a kid from Utah makes the Olympic team in figure skating? Instead of moving in six months before the Games, how do we actually start to set up resources in the state of Utah now?”
With eight years to plan, it gives USFS the ability to identify children just beginning their skating careers, with the idea that they might peak in their late teens or early 20s. One concern for the sport is that they see a lot of young skaters drop out in middle school, when it becomes socially preferable to participate in team sports. For that reason and others, USFS is exploring options to add synchronized skating to the 2034 Olympic schedule, White said.
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