Alysa Liu walked away from skating. Her fresh outlook when she returned helped her win Olympic gold

MILAN (AP) — Alysa Liu probably cared the least of all the women in figure skating at the Milan Cortina Olympics about winning the gold medal.

Maybe that is why she won it.

The 20-year-old with the striped hair, prominent frenulum piercing and carefree attitude never showed any worry or strain when she took the ice for her free skate on Thursday night. Instead, Liu waved up at her friends and family in the stands, grinned throughout her program, and acted as if she was going through...