Alysa Liu Defends Eileen Gu Over China Competition Choice

Alysa Liu, the 20-year-old American figure skater who won gold medals in women's singles and the team event at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, has publicly defended fellow Chinese American athlete Eileen Gu amid ongoing criticism of Gu's decision to compete for China. In interviews following the Games, Liu described the backlash against Gu as hypocritical and emphasized that athletic representation should not overshadow personal opportunity or passion for the sport.

Liu, a Bay Area native studying psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, shared details of her family's political activism during a recent interview. Her father, Arthur Liu, fled China as a political refugee in his 20s after protesting the Communist government in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square events. Smuggled into the United States, he raised Liu and her four siblings as a single father through surrogacy. The family, which Liu described as liberal, has long been outspoken on issues including human rights. "Our family is pretty liberal, and I would say it's thanks to my father," Liu said. "Because he's so into politics, my whole family is as well. Just the ideology to fight for...