There Have Been 7 (!) Olympic Athlete Engagements in Paris During the Games
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The City of Love just got a whole lot more romantic! Throughout the Olympic Games, contenders from all over the world take center stage to represent their countries in a series of events that are the result of years of practice. And while each competition is a showcase of athletic abilities, this year’s players also took it upon themselves to display a more intimate side. 🥺❤️ Enter: a buncha proposals that went down at the 2024 Paris Olympics and melted our hearts.
From French skiff sailors Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon (aka “Mama Team” due to both athletes bringing their children to sporting events) getting proposed to by their respective partners after winning Olympic bronze to Liu Yuchen getting down on one knee in the wake of Huang Ya Qiong landing the gold medal in badminton and Team USA rower Justin Best enlisting the help of Today to pop the question to his girlfriend of nine years in a heartfelt moment (did we mention it was live?!?!), here are some of our absolute fave proposals to go down at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
And dw! Because love is c-l-e-a-r-l-y in the air, we’ll be using this gallery to keep track of every single engagement that hopefully goes down in the coming days until the Olympics officially comes to an end on *checks calendar* August 11, so definitely come back and check this list often! Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be out here manifesting that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce somehow miraculously make an appearance at the competition series, the celebs get swept up by all the romance, and they end up on this very list. 🕯🕯🕯*le sigh* A girl can dream!
Huang Ya Qiong and Liu Yuchen
Huang Ya Qiong already had a lot to celebrate after winning the gold medal in the badminton mixed doubles competition on August 2. How-ev-er (!!!!), once she went through the medal ceremony, fellow Chinese badminton player Liu Yuchen seriously upped the ante by gifting her a huge bouquet of flowers and getting down on one knee to pop the question!
The entire moment is pretty viral—not to mention adorable!—and the Olympics website even reported that Huang said the following after the big moment: “I cannot describe the feeling I have because I am happy, happy, happy. Getting the gold medal is recognition of our journey.”
The Mama Team
’Kay, this one counts as two 💍s. After winning bronze medals for their incredible performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics on August 2, skiff sailors Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon returned ashore to be greeted by their boyfriends popping the question!
“Our boyfriends said at the beginning of the project that if we won a medal, we would be engaged, but mine said, ‘Only gold or silver,’ so after the medal race, I said, ‘Okay so I will not be engaged,’” Sarah dished during a press conference after the medal ceremony.
But when she and fellow French athlete Charline got back to the beach in Marseille after their competition, both their boyfriends were waiting to propose. “Of course, we had to say yes,” Sarah cheekily added. S’cute!
Payton Otterdahl and Maddy Nilles
On August 4, American shot putter Payton shared the sweetest pics on Instagram of himself proposing to his girlfriend Maddy Nilles. “Meanwhile, in the City of Love...I love you forever, Maddy Nilles! @maddynilles27 ❤️,” the athlete captioned the post.
P.S. We’re convinced truly nothing can top this pic of them celebrating the moment right under the Eiffel Tower. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Justin Best and Lainey Duncan
To say Justin Best’s time at the Olympics was incredible is a serious understatement. Like, the rower legit made history at the 2024 Paris Olympics after bringing home the gold for Team USA for the first time in 60 (!!!) years. And to top off the incredible feat, he enlisted the help of the Today show on August 5 to ask his girlfriend of nine years to marry him!
While legit live on the air, the athlete got down on one knee and said, “I want to spend the rest of my life with you and raise a family together. Lainey, will you marry me?”...among a buncha other sweet things that made us legit ugly cry.
See the full moment for yourself right this way and prepare to go through an entire box of Kleenex.
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