U.S.Women [#9]: Now That's What I'm F*@&%!$ Talking About!

Laufey shouting out Alysa again.

 
Interesting little IG reel about the level of interest during these Olympics. The Top 10 most searched athletes on Google include four figure skaters.

9 - Madison Chock
5 - Amber Glenn
3 - Ilia Malinin
2 - Alysa Liu

 
I wonder how so many people find out.

Chances are pretty high that the captain & crew would have announced it to the passengers and congratulated her.
 
Chances are pretty high that the captain & crew would have announced it to the passengers and congratulated her.

But the people at the airport and at the gate. I remember when Tonya Harding landed back in Portland in 94 she said, how did you guys find out, I told absolutely no one about my flight.
 
The San Francisco Chronicle has a paywalled article linked here: https://x.com/sfchronicle/status/2026522625623691489
β€œAlysa Liu, the first American woman to earn skating gold since 2002 with her win at the Milan Cortina Olympic Games, was greeted by ecstatic fans after she exited her flight at SFO.” https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/...lysa-liu-gets-hero-s-welcome-sfo-21938754.php

Here's another clip of Alysa's arrival yesterday: https://www.tiktok.com/@emilyobes/video/7610321364372688142
The TikTok caption reads: "Catching THIS DELTA red eye flight to Philly means welcoming home Alysa Liu from making US Olympic historyπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈπŸ…πŸ‘πŸ½"
 
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But the people at the airport and at the gate. I remember when Tonya Harding landed back in Portland in 94 she said, how did you guys find out, I told absolutely no one about my flight.
In Alysa's case, I imagine either her coaches or family shared her flight info with her skating club, possibly local media if they were asked, and I also imagine the airport made an announcement as her flight was coming in.

When Kimmie won Worlds, the rink (that had been her home rink and club before she moved on to UD) sent an email the day of her return with her flight arrival time for those who wanted to welcome her home. Although she was flying into Philly, so a rather long distance. I don't know if anyone went, but it was nice they let us know.
 
In Alysa's case, I imagine either her coaches or family shared her flight info with her skating club, possibly local media if they were asked, and I also imagine the airport made an announcement as her flight was coming in.

When Kimmie won Worlds, the rink (that had been her home rink and club before she moved on to UD) sent an email the day of her return with her flight arrival time for those who wanted to welcome her home. Although she was flying into Philly, so a rather long distance. I don't know if anyone went, but it was nice they let us know.
Four years ago I ended up flying from Nashville to Houston on the same plane as Nathan and Mariah. The captain announced that we had two Olympians on the plane before we had even taken off. The same thing probably happened on Alysa's flight as well.
 
Four years ago I ended up flying from Nashville to Houston on the same plane as Nathan and Mariah. The captain announced that we had two Olympians on the plane before we had even taken off. The same thing probably happened on Alysa's flight as well.
A year ago we had Schwarzenegger on the flight from London to Los Angeles, the pilot mentioned that, and I was like I don’t know if Schwarzenegger wanted that lol.

AnyWho, I asked my fellow gay flight attendant if I could sneak a peek in first, at first, he said no, then he said follow me. Lol
 
My guess is that Alysa is going to be spotted a lot, especially with her hair. I think I probably would just leave her alone if I saw her. I once was on a flight with a bunch of Russian skaters and was seated right next to Tamara Moskvina. I couldn't bring myself to say a single word. I figured they all wanted to be left alone.
 
Local Bay area news story (includes video):
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu is back home after medaling in Italy. The gold medalist has been spotted at multiple spots around the Bay Area in the past 24 hours.
Alysa Liu landed at SFO on Monday and walked off the plane into a golden tunnel as the crowd cheered for her and one person shouted, "Oakland Loves you!"
Recording her homecoming was Nathalie Cardoza who was on Liu's flight from Atlanta.
"It was so cool. She walked out and I don't think she expected all these people but yeah- everyone was applauding for her," said Cardoza.
For the five-hour flight, Cardoza said no one knew Alysa was on board.
"We landed and the flight attendant made the announcement sponsoring Delta with the Olympics and she congratulated the gold medalist Alysa, and we were all kind of confused and she said, 'Yes, she's in the back of the plane.' So, we all looked back and she's seating there and everyone started applauding," said Cardoza.
Cardoza, documenting that moment with a selfie, says Alysa has inspired her as a young barber at her family-owned business "Barber Shop Don Luis JR" in Livermore.
"Everything she has proven to others it makes you want to do more and put the effort and work," said Cardoza.
"Do you want her to come here?" ABC7 Eyewitness News reporter Luz Pena asked.
"Yeah, I'll do her hair," said Cardoza.
That same excitement was seen at the Italian restaurant Trabocco in Alameda Tuesday night.
"I saw a lot of commotion and my wife, she was very excited and I said, 'What happened?' and she said, 'We have a gold medal in the house,"' said Giuseppe Naccarelli, Owner of Trabocco Kitchen and Cocktails.
Giuseppe Naccarelli said everyone wanted to tell Liu how proud they were of her.
"Everybody recognized her and they came to the table and everybody wanted to pay the check. I want to offer the appetizer. She was very open, very relaxed very smiley- she didn't mind at all the excited about her and that was very cool," said Naccarelli.
Alysa's dish that night was fettuccine bolognese.
"We made a congratulation plate with chocolate cake, and she loved the tiramisu and she thought it was the best tiramisu she's had. So I'll take it," said Naccarelli.
In Liu's hometown of Oakland, the love has also reached new heights.
"For this week, we are on five billboards along the 880. We don't want people to slow down too much. Keep up with traffic but definitely pay a nod and check out Alysa" said Kim Bardakian, communications director for the office of the Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee. "Everything about her, her humbleness, her swag, her joy, her grit- a little bit of all of that is Alysa and it's truly what we are in Oakland."
Bardakian confirmed there will be a celebration for Alysa Liu.
"As you might imagine her schedule is crazy right now, but we are confirming any day now the exact day of the celebration that will not only be for Oakland, but for the entire Bay Area," said Bardakian.
 
And poor Alysa said in an interview that all she wanted was to get back to her β€œnormal life.” This will be the new normal for her. I hope she’s okay with it.
For the most part, people will respect that. I know she was hanging around my husband's work in Oakland the day she got back and no one bothered her at all. It's a busy district with a LOT of popular businesses, so it really says something that no one leaked it.

Oakland has a decent amount of "famous" people and athletes that are treated just like normal community members. Plenty of pro athletes lived there before teams moved away, and many former pro athletes still live in Oakland due to family ties. There are also musicians, some actors/artists, etc. that live there fairly low profile.

I have the sense that "poor Alysa" will adapt just fine. :) I hope some FSUers in the Bay Area will be able to attend her celebration once the time/date/location is announced and report back to us!
Depends on the time/date.

Oakland celebrations are never complete without Hennessey and plenty of marijuana, so we'll see how family friendly this one stays and how long. I (not so) jokingly wonder if she'll pass the drug test at worlds with how much green will be present in the air...
 

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