The knowledge that Alysa Liu‘s name was mispronounced during her big victories at the 2026 Winter Olympics is a bit Lutz.
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The 20-year-old American figure skater from the San Francisco Bay Area won two gold medals during the Milan Cortina Games last month. She won one gold medal in the figure skating team event and another in the women’s individual singles – and both times she apparently had to settle for having her name announced the way a barista would in a coffee shop.
On Sunday, Newsweek posted a clip of an interview on Instagram they had a conversation with Liu, in which she revealed the correct way to pronounce her name, and it seems we were all good, way out.
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Most assumed her first name was pronounced Alyssa, or “uh-LISS-uh” — but Liu told the outlet that’s not entirely accurate. She said her family pronounces it “eh-LEEZ-uh,” like the name Elise with an “A” at the end. But it seems like the athlete is a little used to people bashing her first name.
“‘Alyssa’ is what my friends call me. And that’s what the world calls me,” she explained.
She also said that Liu is not pronounced “Lu”, but “Lee-oh”, which sounds a bit like that the actual astrological sign of the figure skater“Lion.”
“Personally, I don’t care,” Liu said of the way most people pronounce her last name. “That can be hard to say, and I don’t expect people to know how to say that.”
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And considering that Liu is the first American woman to win gold in individual figure skating since 2002, maybe we should all learn how to pronounce her name correctly.
One word, however, that most can say without any problem – but probably shouldn’t utter on national television – is “fucking,” which Liu had no problem with. screaming excitedly after her dazzling free skate performance on February 19 in Milan, Italy, last month.
“That’s what the fuck I’m talking about!” she shouted into the camera following her gold medal-winning performance, which was later censored by NBC on YouTube and social media.
