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Veteran sportswriter Richard Deitsch takes an international view of the Olympics.
It came down to the final skater, as it often does in the Olympic Games. Ami Nakai of Japan. Alysa Liu of the United States. The world truly belongs to the youth — a 17-year-old and a 20-year-old competing for sporting immortality.
“If she free skates this free skate clean, she will probably become the Olympic champion,” said NBC figure skating analyst Tara Lipinski of Nakai.
It was close. It’s always close at this level. Nakai was fantastic; Liu was otherworldly. The American skated with an overabundance of joy, jumping with athleticism and freedom, winning the crowd. Liu scored a…