The World is Waking Up to the Fact Alysa Liu Personifies Everything That's Great About America

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Once every generation or so, an athlete comes along who does more than merely achieve great athletic feats. They instill pride in their nation. They embody the very spirit of what makes their people great. And remind everyone why sports matter the way they do. 

Think John L. Sullivan, the great bare-knuckle boxer. Jim "Cinderella Man" Braddock giving hope to the impoverished during the Great Depression. Jesse Owens, flipping Double Freedom Rockets at that one-testicled house painter and his "Master Race" lunacy. Muhammad Ali, proud and defiant, losing his title rather than go along the lie that was the war in Vietnam. I'm sure the people of Brazil would say the same thing about Pele or the Jamaicans about Usain Bolt. Great athletes who represented their countries at a particular moment, and left their permanent mark on history. 

Yesterday, immediately after she struck Ladies Figure Skating gold with her unforgettable long program, I compared Alysa Liu to the Miracle on Ice team:

Now, with a night's sleep to reflect on it (and dream sweet dreams of America winning gold in the Ladies competition for the first time since before Alysa was born), the more I realize how perfect that analogy is.

The very first thing the movie Miracle gets right is capturing the mood of America in February of 1980. It was a grim, somber time. The American Dream felt dead. Patriotism was becoming a thing of the past. Flying a flag was something only your grandfather the WWII vet did. And when a bunch of college kids from Minnesota and Massachusetts came along and shocked the world by beating a team of professionals (in all but name) and later won gold, they not only shocked the world; they were a shock to the system. A defibrillator to the heart of American pride that got it beating again. The "U!S!A! U!S!A!" chant was invented in that rink in Lake Placid that night. In the span of a sixty minute hockey game, it became acceptable - even fashionable - to take pride in the fact you were born in the freest, boldest, most creative, most inventive, most daring, and most absolutely ridiculous nation on the face of the Earth. 

In her way, this 20-year-old daugther of a Chinese refugee has done the same thing. 

I mean, just look at what her performance did to Scott Hamilton, who has seen and done it all in Skating since he won his own gold 42 years ago, and is not prone to fits emotion. He's usually a ROCK. But Liu really got to him:

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I'm not too proud to admit I shed a single, manly tear myself. Now, as in Lake Placid, 1980, there's no shame in that. 

And what is it that made this gold medal performance so historically special? Beyond Liu's artistry, athleticism, grace under pressure, clutch performance, and the fact she's just one of those genuine, authentic personalities that is impossible not to like?

It has to do with the context of these Olympics and her personal journey to get there. 

Not every American with Winter Olympic-caliber talent shares Liu's enthusiasm for representing their country. Most notably, skier Eileen Gu, who was born in the same San Francisco Bay Area as Alysa, but took $23 million in CCP money to represent China. And was celebrated in the American press:

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… Games.

And when she's been asked about … let's just call it, some of the more unsavory things the Chinese government has been doing to ethnic minorities in their country, Gu has pulled the "I don't know about that. I'll have to educate myself on this issue" thing. Which is bad enough when Lebron James or Steve Kerr says it. But Gu's major at Stanford is International Relations. They must get to "Genocides by Our Major Global Adversary" in the senior year courses. 

Meanwhile, Liu's father has been all too willing to talk about the persecution he escape in China, to emigrate to the US to raise five children and give his new country and Olympic champion:

And just on a personal level, Liu is charming and natural. Just an normal, well-adjusted young woman:

While Gu is abrasive and off-putting. Even if her answer is not wrong in the context of a fairly stupid question:

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… most decorated female freeskier in history!" 

That definitely struck a nerve. 

Advantage: Alysa Liu. 

Call me provincial. Accuse me of being a blindly patriotic, jingoistic zealot. I raise my hand. Guilty as charged. I love my country for all its blessings, in spite of its flaws. As such, I respect everyone's right to think otherwise and express that opinion. It's the core principle the nation was founded on. 

All I ask - demand, really - is that the athletes we send to represent us in international competition not trash the United States in front of the whole world. That's a bare minimum to expect. No other athlete from anywhere else talks the way about their country the way some of ours do. 

Take Hunter Hess. Please. 

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His comments early on about being there to represent his "family and friends and the people who supported" him would be all super swell if he was there to represent his family and friends and the people who supported him. If they were paying his way, putting all the gear on him, and picking up the tab for his room and board. But the United States of America is, ingrate. When Neil and Buzz got to Tranquility Base, that wasn't a family photo they hung from a pole in the lunar soil. It was the flag of the people who sent them there. 

And I for one am in no mood to get nagged at by an Oregon guy from a wealthy suburb who was going to ski academies at an age most American kids are lucky to go to day camp at the local Parks Department.

The hero of that aforementioned Miracle on Ice team agrees:

NY Post -  Olympic hockey great Mike Eruzione slammed US skier Hunter Hess for dissing the Stars and Stripes while on the press podium in Milan.

Hess, 27, sparked fury when he said he had “mixed emotions” about representing the US at the Olympics on Friday, which didn’t sit well with the captain of the legendary 1980 US Olympic hockey team, which shockingly upset Russia at the height of the Cold War.

“Hunter Hess US snowboarder saying he doesn’t represent his country but his family and friends. Then don’t put on the USA uniform maybe just put for family and friends,” Eruzione wrote on X. 

I bring this up because there's good news. The vibe appears to have shifted over the past two weeks of this Olympiad. Hess has heard the reaction. And he's backpedaled fast enough to win the 3-Cone Drill at the NFL Combine:

I love my country 🇺🇸 

There is so much that is great about America, but there are always things that could be better.  One of the many things that makes this country so amazing is that we have the right and the freedom to point that out. The best part of the Olympics is that it brings people together, and when so many of us are divided we need that more than ever. I cannot wait to represent Team USA next week when I compete. 

Thanks to everyone for their support.

And there we have it. Now, that wasn't so hard, was it? No one's looking for anyone to say ours is an idyllic utopia where every athlete is expected to go along with everything all the time. The country is split on practically every issue almost 50/50. All that's required is that you represent it with pride. And don't accept $23 million from some totalitarian regime to represent them. 

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Alysa Liu turned down a bag from the CCP to skate for them in Beijing in 2022. And when she turned them down, her father had to hire security to look after her. Which is just another of many reasons to celebrate her as the athlete who brought America together. She's not a 50/50 issue. When it comes to her, Americans are 100/0. 

Giphy Images.