Alysa Liu is living the American dream, and not just because the figure skater won two gold medals for Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Liu represented the red, white, and blue with pride in Milan, but her father grew up under the hammer and sickle of communist China.
Her father, Arthur Liu, was born and raised in China.
Arthur was a student during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. He organized demonstrations, protests, and hunger strikers against the violence of the communist state. He soon learned that he was on the Chinese government’s most-wanted list.
After being questioned by authorities, and knowing he would soon be arrested, Arthur fled to the United States.
Arthur came to the United States as a political refugee, settling in the Bay Area of California. In California, Arthur worked his way up from being a busboy at a Chinese restaurant to an attorney after attending law school.
Arthur had Alysa start figure skating at just five years old. Alysa’s talent made her a prodigy. In 2019, Alysa became the youngest-ever US women’s champion at just 13 years old.
But the Liu’s success in America got the attention of the CCP.
Around the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, the Liu family became targets of Chinese government spies, which required protection from the FBI.
Weeks before the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the Liu family was allegedly contacted by Matthew Ziburis. He attempted to get personal information from Arthur by impersonating someone on the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
While this appeared to be a red flag before Alysa traveled to China for the first time Arthur said, “This is her moment. This is her once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games.”
At the games in Beijing, Alysa had protection from the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Olympic Committee. Weeks later the U.S. Department of Justice announced they had charged Ziburis and four others as spies targeting U.S. citizens who had spoken up for democracy in China.
Alysa Following Her Father’s Footsteps
Following her father’s footsteps, Alysa is an advocate for human rights in China as well. After the investigation Arthur said he learned that the Chinese government knew about Alysa’s posts on Instagram calling out the terrible treatment and human rights violations against the Uyghurs.
Alysa called the whole experience “unbelievable” and “a little bit freaky and exciting.” She said she hopes someone makes a movie out of the whole thing.
“They gotta make me look like a super cool hero or something. I can’t just be the kid that got spied on and did nothing about it,” she said, adding “the main focus [should] be my dad’s story because his story is so cool.”
Alysa’s gold medal performance in the women’s individual singles event was the first gold medal for Team USA in Individual Women’s Figure Skating since 2006, calling it “a dream” to compete for Team USA.
