ANNOUNCER:
00:00:02
60 Minutesovertime. It's unheard of. It's the biggest comeback in sports history. This week on 60 Minutes,we spoke with American figure skater Alysa Liu about her epic comeback.
BRIAN BOITANO:
00:00:17
Beautiful. She took two years off as she came of age, and then returned to the ice and won the 2025 world championship. Olympic gold medalist Brian Boitano explained how rare this is. Every other woman who has gone through that change has not been as successful, coming back with the woman's body as she did. The difference with her is that when she was competing as a young girl, little girl, her level was so far above everyone else. She was doing quads and triple axels and all these things. None of these women were doing that. So she had this-- she was vibrating up here. And then once she got her woman's body, she didn't do all those hard things anymore, but she came down to a level where she was competing with the same technical arsenal that everybody else was. And that was really secure. And that was what she learned to focus on and become competition study, and that's why she's had that success. How have you seen her style evolve?
BRIAN BOITANO:
00:01:19
Stylistically, I mean, she's definitely one of the best, in my opinion. There's a depth to her movement, and there's a depth to her connection to the audience. And the way she moves, it's fluid and graceful and strong. In skating, every millimeter matters. So we wanted to talk about your skates today, obviously custom, but give me a sense of how perfect it has to be. And can you feel it if it's not right? Yeah, I mean, mounting for a skater is really important because I feel like, especially at this level, you really feel every part of your foot and also you get used to your balance point. And when your blade is a little off, like off-centered, you can really tell. So if it is off-- Yeah? --what would we see on the ice would be different? You'd have to switch up your technique because your boots and blades are different. And they're not carrying you the same way they did before. So that's why it's really important to make sure that these stay consistent. Because your technique is consistent, so you want to make sure these match. You feel the legs, how tight? Alysa's coaches Philip DiGuglielmo and Massimo Scali told us what sets her apart. I truly believe there is something very different about Alysa's brain. I say that to her all the time. She doesn't experience nerve pressure the way we do. I'll tell you, and I've said this to the newspapers, if you're getting surgery with a trauma surgeon, you want her. If you are in a plane and it's going down, you want her as the pilot, because she's like, what? OK, got it. She's just cool. Yeah, she's cool. I always think like Olympians-- oh, you're Olympian-- are different. Yeah. Right away. When the world and everything else around you says, this is not possible, you cannot do this, you cannot succeed at this, there is one voice in their heads that says, I got this. I got this. I got this. [CLOCK TICKING]
