Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu’s former figure skating coach is addressing the claim that she denied the skater water during their training sessions.
“There has been a rumor circulating that I did not allow Alysa to drink water during training. This is simply not true,” Laura Lipetsky shared via social media on Friday, March 13. “Athlete health and safety has always been a top priority in my coaching. At no time was Alysa ever prevented from having water or taking care of her physical needs.”
She continued, “Training at a high level requires discipline, structure, and mutual trust between coach and athlete. But that has never meant denying something as basic and important as hydration.”
Liu, 20, began training with Lipetsky when she started her figure skating career at just 5 years old. The duo stopped working together in 2020.
“I am proud of the work we did together and wish Alysa continued success in her career,” Lipetsky continued. “I hope we can all focus on supporting athletes and the sport we love rather than spreading misinformation. Thank you to those who continue to support and understand the commitment it takes to train at an elite level.”
Liu announced her retirement from skating in April 2022 before, of course, returning to the sport and winning gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
“We had a lot of fun together,” Lipetsky said of their working relationship. ”We played games on the ice, I made sure she had time to play with her friends on the ice, we laughed a ton, only trained 4 hours during the week, Saturdays were only 45min, Sundays – she went to another rink or train on her own because SHE wanted to. She was never forced to do anything. She was self driven and loved to skate.”
Lipetsky concluded, “I just kept her passion alive. So please stop the hate towards me and get the timelines right. Thank you.”
Liu made the claim about hydration breaks during an interview with Rolling Stone posted on March 7.
“It was crazy,” Liu recalled. “They were like, ‘Oh, water weight. You shouldn’t drink water. You should gargle it.’ Crazy. It’s insane.”
The pressure and rigidness of skating played a big role in Liu deciding to step away at the age of 16, announcing her retirement at the time via an Instagram post.
“I didn’t tell anybody because I knew that I was going to get some pushback,” Liu said to Rolling Stone. “So I kept it a secret and then I posted about it. That’s how everybody found out. That way I could just cut it off clean.”
Liu announced her return to the sport in March 2024.
