When it comes to classically female-oriented sports such as dance, gymnastics and figure skating, there is a deeply entrenched history of harmful control over the athletes. The image of women as dainty and lithe is a stereotype long withheld throughout society that continues to plague us to this day. Historically, the skinnier and more graceful a woman was, the more worth she had. Women were meant to be seen and not heard. When it comes to the athletic world, sports that are driven towards women do not highlight strength or athleticism such as with men. Instead, they serve to emphasize the imagery and grace of women that the public eye had wanted to see. But this unlocked a world of harmful coaching practices that continue to haunt the sport.
The idea of the “perfect” body is impractical to attain for the majority of people. But this has never stopped people from forcing women to gain this image by any means necessary, oftentimes involving strict discipline and control over what and when women eat. Sports such as dance and figure skating are synonymous with their drill sergeant-like coaching methods that place young girls under immense pressure. These sports require athletes to start at a very young age if they want to compete at a high level, conditioning countless girls to starve themselves or only be allowed to express one aesthetic. Not a strand of hair out of place or an unnatural color, a thin waist with a stomach that doesn’t stick out, a painted perfect smile always on. Women who pursue these sports are forced to give up certain autonomy and tend to develop eating disorders, all while being put under extreme stress that could shatter them with one wrong move. These practices are wrong — everyone knows that. But because it’s “tradition” and creates results, no one dares to break from the path.
Insert Alysa Liu, a young figure skating talent from the United States that’s the perfect image of the classic skater. At just 10 years old, she became the youngest female skater to win intermediate gold medal at the 2016 US Championships. In her junior division debut, she won the 2018 US Championship while being too young to qualify for the World Junior Championship. At 14, she became the youngest two-time champion in the US, all before making her senior debut. She finally debuted at the senior level in 2021, eventually being named to the 2022 Winter Olympics team and placing third at that year’s World Championships. She was the firstAmerican woman to medal since 2016.
This all came to a halt, though, when Liu announced her retirement in a now deleted Instagram post on April 9, 2022, at the age of 16. Liu said her life was being taken over by skating. Despite following all of the rules and traditions, Liu lost her love for skating before she even graduated high school. Liu later revealed her retirement was due to the trauma of overtraining and control over what she ate and drank, something no child should have to experience.
Flash forward to March 1, 2024, when Liu posted a video announcing her comeback to skating as an entirely new person. Liu returned on her own terms, getting to pick her own music and claiming, “no one’s going to starve me or tell me what I can and can’t eat.” Liu also rocked a new “alt” aesthetic, with wide eyeliner, halo raccoon hair dye, and a smiley piercing she did herself. This new Liu contrasted everything the figure skating world has taught, which implied that her success would never be the same since she abandoned tradition. However, Liu returned stronger than ever, placing on the podium or in fourth in almost every competition she faced until eventually being named to the 2026 Winter Olympic team. Liu went on to win not one but two gold medals, placing first in the women’s singles with a captivating short program to “Promise” by Laufey and a near-perfect free skate to Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park Suite”. Throughout it all, Liu skated with a smile on her face bigger than ever before, and with confidence she never had during her childhood.
Liu’s success post-retirement is proof that controlling how women look and act isn’t beneficial to their success and actually stunts growth. Developing an outdated view of beauty through harmful means such as diet control and strict coaching robs children of their personalities and perpetuates the image issues faced by women throughout society. When girls get to pick how they look, what they do and what they eat, they excel at ahigher level than under the stress of perfectionism. Women should control what they do with their bodies for their own good and for their own success.