Alysa Liu’s gold medal free skate in Milan didn’t just make history for American figure skating. It also moved the man who wrote the song she skated to.
Jimmy Webb, the Hall of Fame songwriter who wrote “MacArthur Park” in 1967, posted a video message to Instagram today thanking Liu for her performance. Webb is one of the most celebrated songwriters in American pop history, known for classics including “Wichita Lineman,” “Galveston,” and “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” but “MacArthur Park” may be his most iconic work, made a worldwide hit first by actor Richard Harris and later by Donna Summer, whose disco version topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in 1978.
In the video, Webb spoke directly to Liu. “I felt like I had to take a moment and thank Alysa Liu for choosing my song MacArthur Park for her gold medal award-winning skate, which I watched intently and enjoyed probably more than anyone else,” he said. “I felt her energy, her youth, her optimism really breathed a new life into MacArthur Park.”
Webb also reflected on Donna Summer, whose recording Liu skated to. “I was reminded again what a great singer Donna Summer was. Wish I had done more with her. She was quite wonderful.”
He closed by acknowledging the response he had received since Liu’s win. “I want to thank all my friends and family who’ve called in, written in with messages of support and congratulations. I’m just glad I could be a part of it. And you know, I guess I’ll see you at the next Olympics.”
Liu’s performance has had a significant impact on streaming numbers for the song. According to entertainment analytics platform Luminate, U.S. on-demand streams of Donna Summer’s version surged 505% following the skate. The song had been averaging around 12,000 streams per day in the six days leading up to her performance, then jumped to approximately 115,000 the day after her win and climbed further to around 139,000 the following day. On Spotify, streams increased nearly 1,300% the day after her free skate.
The official Instagram account for the late Donna Summer, who passed away in 2012, also shared a clip of Liu’s skate on its Instagram Story following her gold medal win.
Liu had originally planned to skate her Olympic long program to music by Lady Gaga, but returned to “MacArthur Park” after mixed results at two earlier competitions. The program had been built for the 2025 World Championships in Boston, notably Donna Summer’s birthplace. She made several choreographic adjustments heading into Milan, and the result was the performance that earned her the first American women’s singles figure skating gold medal since 2002.