The felicitations for Alysa Liu aren’t going to stop anytime soon. The 20-year-old figure skater has etched her name in the golden letters of America’s winter sports history by winning two gold medals at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics 2026. Probably that’s why people of her hometown in Oakland decided to pay her back with a unique tribute, a mural celebrating her heroics!
Alysa Liu Gets a Unique Tribute in Oakland Post Olympic Success
X user @KenjiCapital, who belongs to Oakland [where Alysa Liu spent her childhood and completed her primary education], posted the picture of a mural painted in honor of the Olympic gold medalist at the Telegraph and 43rd locality, with the following caption,
“The finished product. New Alyssa Liu mural on Telegraph and 43rd.”
The 20-year-old figure skater has seen her profile soar since clinching the gold medal in the women’s singles at the recently concluded Winter Olympics. Liu had barely more than 200k followers on Instagram before the Winter Olympics commenced.
However, by the time she returned home, she had more than 5 million followers on Instagram. The Olympic champion credited her father for her spirited personality. In a previous interview with Teen Vogue, Liu remarked,
“My father has a backbone, and so I have it too. He is independent, and he speaks up, and he raised us to do the same.”
READ MORE: Alysa Liu Looks Back on Growing Up With a ‘Backbone’ Just Like Her Chinese Immigrant Father
Liu’s father, Arthur Liu, is a Chinese dissident who was forced to migrate to the USA following the crackdown on people who participated in the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989. He had also expressed his concerns about Liu being allegedly spied on by Chinese spies ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics, following which the American authorities had to intervene and assure him of his daughter’s safety.
The 20-year-old figure skater made her Olympic debut at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, where she finished sixth. Liu took a temporary retirement until 2024, when she announced her comeback. She clinched the gold medal at the 2025 World Championships and, despite narrowly losing to Amber Glenn, placed among the top three at the US Figure Skating Championships earlier this year to qualify for the Winter Olympics.
Though Liu finished third, she contributed in her own way to Team USA’s second consecutive gold medal in the figure skating team event at the Winter Olympics. However, the world champion skater created history in the women’s singles finals, edging out her Japanese opponents to clinch the first individual gold medal in women’s figure skating at the Winter Olympics for Team USA since Sarah Hughes achieved it in 2002.
