Sports
Alysa Liu 2.0: How retirement, perspective helped the U.S. star reach new heights
MILAN — Alysa Liu wore a hollow smile on the ice. She had achieved a dream, skating at the Beijing Olympics at just 16, but in a mostly empty arena, few were there to see the moment.
Perhaps that was what Liu secretly wanted.
“It’s not that I didn’t want to be seen,” Liu said. “It’s just I had nothing to show.”
The 20-year-old now proudly presents Alysa Liu 2.0.
Four years after shocking the sport by retiring as a teenage phenom, the Oakland native could win two gold medals at the Milan-Cortina Olympics. She is a title contender in her individual event that begins Feb. 17 as the United States tries to end a 20-year Olympic medal drought in women’s singles figure skating, and she will skate Friday in the women’s short program of a team competition the United States is favored to win.
Armed with a new perspective from her two-year retirement, Liu now smiles genuinely on and off the ice, no matter if there’s a medal around her neck or not.
“I have so much I want to express and show, whether that’s through skating or just through my presence,” said Liu, who placed sixth in Beijing. “It’s exciting to think about that being seen.”
When she made her Olympic debut, Liu didn’t feel like her career belonged to her. Her father, Arthur, was a driving force in her skating career. In a sport where coaches and choreographers often call the shots for young athletes, Liu entered the Olympic stage with programs she didn’t like and clothes she didn’t pick. She was behind a mask and couldn’t express herself. She barely knew how to.
Skating had consumed her entire life. She felt “trapped and stuck” in the sport. So she left.
After retiring following the 2022 world championships — where she won a bronze medal — Liu got her driver’s license. She hiked to Mount Everest base camp with friends. She went shopping for not-skating clothes, played Fortnite until 4 a.m. with her siblings and enrolled at UCLA. She loved studying psychology.
“I found what I like and what I didn’t like,” said Liu, who took time off from UCLA to prepare for the Olympics but hopes to return before her friends graduate. “Really got to know myself, because [when] I had skating, I didn’t really know myself. I couldn’t know myself. I only ever did one thing.”
Alysa Liu practices in Milan on Thursday ahead of the Olympic team competition, which starts Friday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
After a casual ski trip reminded her of the joys of skating, Liu made the decision to return to the sport that shaped, and nearly stole, her childhood. But she would only do it on her terms.
The choreography, the music and the costumes would all be her choice. She doesn’t compete to win. She skates to show her art, she said.
In the process, she’s winning more than ever.
She won the world championship in 2025, becoming the first U.S. woman to win the world title since 2006. She won the Grand Prix final in Japan in December, the last major international competition before the Milan-Cortina Games to announce herself as a potential Olympic champion.
The day before her last performance at the U.S. championships, the final competition that would decide her Olympic bid, Liu ran to a St. Louis salon to dye her hair to match a new skating dress. Unbothered by the pressure of the moment, she debuted a Lady Gaga free skate that brought fans to their feet and earned her a silver medal.
“When you are an Olympic athlete that has a chance in front of the world every four years, it literally is your life’s work that’s on the line,” NBC analyst and two-time Olympian Johnny Weir said. “And she has found a way to compartmentalize that and put it down. … I just think it’s so wonderfully healthy and brave and strong to be doing what she is, because it takes a lot of bravery to put down the pressure that the sport naturally has.”
Liu is just a natural talent in the sport, 2022 Olympian Mariah Bell said. Bell remembered during the Stars on Ice tour in 2022 when the skaters rolled into a new city, tired, groggy and sore from the long bus ride, Liu, dressed in a baggy hoodie and billowing sweatpants, could go on the ice and throw perfect jumps without warning. Bell stood in awe.
U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu practices on Thursday in Milan.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
After Liu’s short program at the U.S. championships last month set a national championship record, Bell was blown away for different reasons.
“She’s so sophisticated and mature and emotional,” Bell said. “When she was younger, she was incredible. But when you’re 13, you don’t skate the way that you do like how she did the short program [at the U.S. championships].”
Skating to Laufey’s “Promise,” a haunting piano ballad, Liu glided through a flawless short program that she said nearly moved her to tears. Fans showered her with stuffed animals.
Liu has always commanded attention in the sport. She was the youngest skater to perform a triple axel in international competition at 12, became the youngest U.S. champion at 13 and followed with another national title at 14. She was the first U.S. woman to complete a quad lutz in competition, doing so in the 2019 Junior Grand Prix in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Six years later, back in that same arena for Skate America in 2025, Liu told her coaches she didn’t remember her historic accomplishment.
“It feels like I’m watching or I got someone else’s memories,” said Liu, who had similar, disconnected, but overall positive memories of her Olympic experience in Beijing. “It feels like a totally different person, but we are definitely the same person.”
U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu practices in Milan on Thursday as she prepares for the team competition, which starts Friday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Exchange the delicate, ballerina-like skating dresses with bold, modern asymmetrical designs. Undo the tight, slicked back bun and bring in halo dyed hair, dark eyeliner and the piercing she did herself on the inside of her upper lip. With three horizontal stripes dyed into her hair, each layer represents a year of the new life Liu is finally happy to put on display.
“I want to be seen more because I like what I have going on,” Liu said. “I like what I’m doing.”
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LAS VEGAS – Danhausen’s curse may be real after all – just ask Stephen A. Smith and the New York Mets.
While the latter dropped their 10th game in a row, Smith got his share of the curse on Saturday night during Night 1 of WrestleMania 42. Smith was in attendance for WWE’s premier event of the year and heard massive boos from the crowd.
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith was sitting ringside to watch the action. The ESPN star appeared on the videoboard above the ring at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. He appeared to embrace the reaction and smiled through it.
The boos came after Danhausen appeared on “First Take” on Friday – much to the chagrin of the sports pundit. Smith appeared perplexed by Danhausen’s appearance. Smith said he heard about Danhausen and called him a “bad luck charm.”
Danhausen said Smith had been “rude” to him and put the dreaded “curse” on the commentator.
WWE STAR DANHAUSEN SAYS METS ‘CURSE’ ISN’T EXACTLY LIFTED AS TEAM DROPS NINTH STRAIGHT GAME
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith is far from the only one dealing with the effects of the “curse.”
Danhausen agreed to “un-curse” the Mets during their losing streak. However, he told Fox News Digital earlier this week that there was a reason why the curse’s removal didn’t take full effect.
“I did un-curse the Mets. But it didn’t work because, I believe it was Brian Gewirtz who did not pay Danhausen. He did not send me my money so it did not take full effect,” Danhausen said. “Once I have the money, perhaps it will actually work because right now it’s probably about a half of an un-cursing. It’s like a layaway situation.”
Danhausen enters the arena before his match against Kit Wilson during SmackDown at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on April 10, 2026. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
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On “Friday Night SmackDown,” WWE stars like The Miz and Kit Wilson were also targets of Danhausen’s curse.
It’s time to reveal memories, laughs and crazy times from Randy Rosenbloom’s 55 years as a TV/radio broadcaster in Los Angeles. He’s hopping in a car next Sunday with his wife, saying goodbye to a North Hollywood house that’s been in his family since 1952 and driving 3,300 miles to his new home in Greenville, S.C.
“When I walk out, I’ll probably break down,” he said.
He graduated from North Hollywood High in 1969. He got his first paid job in 1971 calling Hart basketball games for NBC Cable Newhall for $10 a game. It began an adventure of a lifetime.
“I never knew if I overachieved or underachieved. I just did what I loved,” he said.
Randy Rosenbloom (left) used to work with former UCLA coach John Wooden for TV games.
(Randy Rosenbloom)
John Wooden, Jerry Tarkanian and Jim Harrick were among his expert commentators when he did play by play for college basketball games. He called volleyball at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games for NBC and rowing in 2004. He’s worked more than 100 championship high school events. He did play by play for the first and only Reebok Bowl at Angel Stadium in 1994 won by Bishop Amat over Sylmar, 35-14.
“There were about 5,000, 6,000 people there and I remember thinking nobody watched the game. We ended up with a 5.7 TV rating on Channel 13 in Los Angeles, which is higher than most Lakers games.”
He conducted interviews with NFL Hall of Famers Gale Sayers and Johnny Unitas and boxing greats Robert Duran, Thomas Hearn and Sugar Ray Leonard. He’s worked with baseball greats Steve Garvey and Doug DeCinces. He called games with former USC coach Rod Dedeaux. He was in the radio booth for Bret Saberhagen’s 1982 no-hitter in the City Section championship game at Dodger Stadium. He was a nightly sportscaster for KADY in Ventura.
Randy Rosenbloom, left, with his volleyball broadcast partners, Kirk Kilgour and Bill Walton.
(Randy Rosenbloom)
He was the voice of Fresno State football and basketball. He also did Nevada Las Vegas football and basketball games. He called bowl games and Little League games. He was a public address announcer for basketball at the 1984 Olympic Games with Michael Jordan the star and did the P.A. for Toluca Little League.
Nothing was too small or too big for him.
“I loved everything,” he said.
He called at least 10 East L.A. Classic football games between Garfield and Roosevelt. He was there when Narbonne and San Pedro tied 21-21 in the 2008 City championship game at the Coliseum on a San Pedro touchdown with one second left.
Probably his most notable tale came when he was doing radio play-by-play at a 1998 college bowl game in Montgomery, Ala.
“I look down and a giant tarantula is crawling up my pants,” he said. “My color man took all the press notes, wadded them up and hit the tarantula like swinging a bat.”
Did Rosenbloom tell the audience what was happening?
“I stayed calm,” he said.
Then there was the time he was in the press box at Sam Boyd Stadium and a bat flew in and attached itself to the wooden press box right next to him before flying away after he said, “UNLV wins.”
Recently, he’s been putting together high school TV packages for LA36 and calling travel ball basketball games. He’ll still keep doing a radio gambling show from his new home, but he’s cutting ties to Los Angeles to move closer to grandchildren.
“I’m retiring from Los Angeles. I’m leaving the market,” he said.
Hopefully he’ll continue via Zoom to do a weekly podcast with me for The Times.
He’s a true professional who’s versatility and work ethic made him a reliable hire from the age of 18 through his current age of 74.
He’s a member of the City Section Hall of Fame and the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He once threw the shot put 51 feet, 7 1/2 inches, which is his claim to fame at North Hollywood High.
One time an ESPN graphic before a show spelled his name “Rosenbloom” then changed it to “Rosenblum” for postgame. It was worth a good laugh.
He always adjusts, improvises and ad-libs. He expects to enjoy his time in South Carolina, but he better watch out for tarantulas. They seem to like him.
Sports
Becky Lynch enters exclusive WWE club with Women’s Intercontinental Championship win at WrestleMania 42
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LAS VEGAS – Becky Lynch entered an atmosphere no other WWE women’s superstar has ever reached as she won the Women’s Intercontinental Championship over AJ Lee on Saturday night at WrestleMania 42.
Lynch became the first person to hold the Women’s Intercontinental Championship three times after she pinned Lee. She first won the title against Lyra Valkyria in June 2025 and then again against Maxxine Dupri in November.
Becky Lynch celebrates with the belt after defeating AJ Lee during their women’s Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
She dropped the belt to Lee at the Elimination Chamber, sparking a monthslong feud with her.
Lee gave Lynch the chance at the title in the weeks prior to WrestleMania 42. But it appeared Lee played right into Lynch’s plans. Despite arguing with referee Jessica Carr for most of the match, Lynch was able to tactfully tear down a rope buckle and use it to her advantage.
Lynch hit Lee with a Manhandle Slam and pinned her for the win.
WWE STARS REVEAL WHAT MAKES WRESTLEMANIA SO SPECIAL: ‘IT’S THE SUPER BOWL OF PRO WRESTLING’
AJ Lee reacts after losing to Becky Lynch in their Women’s Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
It’s the second straight year Lynch will leave Las Vegas as champion. She returned to WWE at WrestleMania 41, teaming with Valkyria, to win the women’s tag titles. She will now leave Allegiant Stadium as the women’s intercontinental champion.
Lynch is now a seven-time women’s champion, three-time women’s intercontinental champion and two-time tag team champion.
Becky Lynch withstands AJ Lee during their Women’s Intercontinental Championship match on night one of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Lee’s reign as champion ended really before it could really begin. WrestleMania 42 was her first appearance at the event in 11 years. It’s unclear where Lee will go from here.
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