Before gushing about her experience inside the Olympic Village, Team USA figure skater Isabeau Levito admitted she had eyes for another one of her sport’s stars.
“Oh my God, someone said my celebrity crush is Cha Jun-hwan, that is so real,” Levito, 18, said in a resurfaced clip from a recent Instagram Live with fellow Team USA figure skater Alysa Liu.
Liu, 20, responded, “Is this a bit?”
Levito and Cha, 24, were both members of the 2024 Stars on Ice tour, which is where Levito’s affinity for the skater first blossomed.
“Everyone’s bit with him was just that he was perfect,” Levito explained. “In the group rehearsals, when everybody was looking bad, everyone would just look at Cha Jun-hwan and say, ‘But he is perfect.’”
Cha, who represents the Republic of Korea, finished in 4th place in the men’s figure skating event at the 2026 Olympics, falling just 0.98 points behind Japan’s Shun Sato, who took home the bronze medal.
The clip of Levito began circulating online after her comments about loving life in the Olympic Village went viral earlier this week.
South Korea’s Cha Jun-hwan competes in the figure skating men’s singles free skating final during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on February 13, 2026. WANG Zhao / AFP
“I’ve spent every night in the [Olympic] Village. It’s been everything and more,” Levito told NBC in a video posted on Monday, February 16. “You can’t evict me.”
She added, “I don’t think there’s anything not to enjoy. I haven’t even gotten to compete yet and I feel like my experience is already complete. Not complete, but I’m having a blast. The best time.”
The American star had plenty of time to explore the Village grounds, arriving in Italy weeks before she finally hit the ice to compete in the women’s figure skating short program event on Tuesday, February 17.
“I feel like I’m exactly where I want to be and I’m so glad that things have aligned and worked out for me to be here,” Levito said. “I’m excited for the opportunity to compete.”
Levito finished in 5th place in the short program, with American Liu in 3rd. Amber Glenn, the third member of Team USA’s Blade Angels, had a disappointing skate and finished in 13th place.
“I feel very good,” Levito told NBC after her performance. “I feel like I skated with the elegance that I wanted to skate with. And I’m very glad that my Olympic debut looked like that … I just felt special.”
She continued, “I really love this program. I love the costume, and I love the character that I get to play in this program. So I just feel very confident and very satisfied and happy with myself right now.”
Liu was in a similarly positive mood after her short program on Tuesday.
“It felt great,” Liu told reporters. “I don’t know if I felt this good because it was Olympic ice, or because my best friend, my siblings, my [dad] and my friends were watching. I don’t know which it is — I’m just really happy, and this moment is really exciting.”
Levito, Liu and Glenn, 26, all return to the ice for the women’s free skate on Thursday, February 19.
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