Olympic Skater Whose Father Fled Communist China Gets Storybook Ending That Will Make Your Heart Swell with Patriotism
On Thursday, the story of American figure skater Alysa Liu was glitz, glitter, and gold.
That was not how China wanted the story to end when its agents spied on her family in California before her Olympic debut in the 2022 Winter Olympics held in Beijing, in what the Justice Department called “efforts to stalk, harass, and surveil dissidents residing in the United States.”
🇺🇸 THE ULTIMATE AMERICAN REVENGE STORY 🇺🇸
— Afshine Emrani MD FACC (@afshineemrani) February 20, 2026
The script couldn't have written it better. In 1989, Arthur Liu fled China as a political refugee after the Tiananmen Square massacre. He came to America with nothing but a dream for a free life.
Decades later, his daughter Alysa Liu… pic.twitter.com/VH6ScPB9Cu
“The script couldn’t have written it better. In 1989, Arthur Liu fled China as a political refugee after the Tiananmen Square massacre. He came to America with nothing but a dream for a free life. Decades later, his daughter Alysa Liu became the face of Team USA. But the CCP didn’t forget. Before the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the FBI uncovered a ‘brazen’ spying operation. The target? Alysa and her father,” the post read.
“The Chinese government tried to: Stalk them on U.S. soil. Intimidate her into silence. Pressure her to turn her back on the country that gave her family refuge. The FBI had to give them 24/7 security just so she could compete. She faced the intimidation. She refused to be a pawn,” the post said.
“She walked away from the sport for two years to find her soul again— and then she came back with a vengeance. TODAY, THE STORY IS COMPLETE. In a flawless performance to Donna Summer’s ‘MacArthur Park,’ Alysa Liu just did the impossible. OLYMPIC GOLD,” the post said.
“She didn’t just skate for a medal. She skated for the freedom her father risked everything for. She didn’t just win for herself; she won for the flag that protected her family when the world felt small. This is what a Patriot looks like,” the post said.
Liu was Team USA’s only hope Thursday after teammates Amber Glen and Isabeau Levito failed to make the finals, according to Fox News. Sarah Hughes won America’s last gold in women’s singles figure skating in 2002.
But Liu praised her father, Arthur, saying every good thing “only happened because of what he did.”
Agents working for the Chinese government stalked and harassed Alysa Liu. In part because she had spoken out about human rights in China.
— Michael Ron Bowling (@mrbcyber) February 11, 2026
Alysa gets gold in courage and compassion as well as figure skating. https://t.co/Rds572pfzG pic.twitter.com/eEalkT9BND
In 2022, after his daughter competed, Arthur Liu revealed what he and his daughter had been living through after the Department of Justice indicted five men who were charged with threatening former Chinese dissidents, according to PBS.
“This is her moment. This is her once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games. I’m not going to let them stop her from going and I’ll do whatever I can to make sure she’s safe and I’m willing to make sacrifices so she can enjoy the moment,” Arthur Liu said. “I’m not going to let them win — to stop me — to silence me from expressing my opinions anywhere.”
When she was in China, she had an escort at all times, he said.
“They are probably just trying to intimidate us, to … in a way threaten us not to say anything, to cause trouble to them and say anything political or related to human rights violations in China,” Arthur Liu said. “I had concerns about her safety. The U.S. government did a good job protecting her.”
Prosecutors allege that Matthew Ziburis, who was charged with conspiring to commit interstate harassment and criminal use of a means of identification, was hired to surveil the family and get their passport information.
Liu left China in his 20s after protesting the Communist government’s massacre of Tiananmen Square protesters in 1989. He said China was aware that at one time, his daughter posted a social media message about its human rights violations against the ethnic minority Uyghurs.
“I’ve kind of accepted my life to be like this because of what I chose to do in 1989, to speak up against the government. And I know the Chinese government will extend their long hands into any corner in the world,” Arthur Liu said. “I’m going to continue to enjoy life and live life as I want to live. I’m not going to let this push me down and I’m not going to let them succeed.”
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