One of the greatest Olympic comebacks of all-time ⛸️ #shorts

[0:00]If you still needed another reason to understand why kids shouldn't be forced into sports, look no further than the newest and most unlikely Olympic champion. Alyssa Liu started training at five years old, but it wasn't really training. It was working. She was under military like control from her father Arthur, who's a very strange character. After organizing protests in China, he fled to the US as a political refugee. Arthur had five surrogate children and raised them as a single father. Alyssa stood out from an early age, and Arthur went all in. How much do you think you spent to help her become the figure skater that she is? I would say half a million to a million dollars. The intense work seemingly paid off. At 13 years old, Alyssa won the US Championship. But deep down she was in a world of pain. When COVID struck, the rinks closed, and for the first time in her life, Alyssa had nothing to do. Secretly, the best skater in the country hoped the rinks would never reopen, but Arthur had a plan. He moved her alone to Delaware, then Italy, and then Colorado to keep training. Her coaches, who've been fired and rehired many times over by Arthur, tell stories of her crying in the hallway after being dropped off to practice. In 2022, Alyssa battled through the pain to reach the highest stage at the Beijing Olympics. But after the games ended, she felt like she had paid her dues. At 16 years old, she took to Instagram to shock the world with her retirement. Skating had consumed her entire life, so Alyssa decided it was time to find out who she was and what the world had to offer. First, she buried her skates in the closet and hiked to Everest base camp. Then she got her driver's license, took classes at UCLA, dyed her hair, and completed her new look with a few piercings. In 2024, she went skiing and suddenly felt an itch to skate again. Despite not setting foot in a rink for two years, she landed a double axel. Alyssa immediately called her coach and told him she's back, but on her own terms. Nobody could tell her what to eat, when to train, or which music to use. Now, in figure skating, a comeback like this was an impossibility. Her coaches begged her not to do it. Nobody takes two years off and returns to the Olympics, but Alyssa was different. She told NBC it felt like a new world because she didn't feel like her life was on the line. Turns out she was right, as she shocked everyone by winning the World Championships in 2025. Impossibly, Alyssa enter Milan as the odds on favorite to win gold, and she did not disappoint. She smiled all the way through a flawless routine as she put the finishing touches on a comeback for the ages. Alyssa rose to the podium as the first American woman to win gold in 24 years. Follow if you enjoyed.