The Olympic ladies’s determine skating competitors concluded on Thursday, Feb. 19.
Crew USA’s Alysa Liu stormed her method to an surprising gold medal after two sensible packages. She’s the primary American lady to medal in determine skating since Sasha Cohen in 2006 and the primary to win gold since Sarah Hughes in 2002.
Japanese legend Kaori Sakamoto took silver whereas her teenage teammate Ami Nakai took bronze.
Listed below are the large takeaways from a shocking evening of skating:
Alysa Liu skated her means into Olympic historical past
No skater on this competitors obtained an even bigger ovation from the gang than Liu. Her Donna Summer time free skate introduced all the rink in on the second, and for the 4 minutes she was on the ice, Liu was performing together with hundreds. It was a spellbinding expertise, made much more so by her technical perfection.
A lot has been manufactured from Liu’s younger retirement from the game and eventual return on her personal phrases, and this efficiency confirmed why it is such an interesting matter. Liu introduced zero nerves along with her on the ice, and the impact of her emotional lightness was staggering. She was joyful sufficient on the market to make everybody else within the constructing joyful too.
When Liu obtained her ceiling-shattering rating, she did not scream, bounce or cry. She merely smiled and mentioned “I knew.” They are saying stress makes champions, however on this ladies’s free skate, it was the shortage of stress that made all of the distinction.
