appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

Meredith Chen

The Olympics is mainly about the world’s greatest athletes competing at the top of the game in their fields.
It’s about breaking records and creating legacies. And in the French capital, there was plenty of that.
But it’s also Paris. It’s the city of love, so there were plenty who left not just with gold around their necks, but also on their fingers.
So, here are our top five marriage proposals, because, yes, there were more than five to choose from.

Huang Yaqiong
China badminton star Huang Yaqiong was still glowing from her mixed doubles victory medal ceremony when a bouquet of flowers was presented to her.
It was handed to her by men’s doubles player Liu Yuchen, who then got down on one knee and popped the question in front of the La Chapelle Arena crowd.
The 30-year-old claimed the championship alongside her partner Zheng Siwei in a straight sets victory over South Korea’s Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun to go one better than the silver they earned in Tokyo 2021.
Wearing the gold medal hung around her neck, she said yes.












View this post on Instagram























A post shared by Heimana Reynolds (@heimana_reynolds)



Alev Kelter
The American rugby 7s star and three-time Olympian would do well to enjoy a three-week period more than her time in France.
Not content with winning an Olympic bronze medal, she popped the question to her girlfriend, fellow rugby player Kathryn Treder, who plays for the country’s 15-a-side team.
The US women’s rugby team enjoyed a historic victory over Australia, the first medal for an American sevens squad – men or women.
And the post-win bliss got even sweeter thanks to Kelter’s proposal, with the family present including her 96-year-old grandmother.

French athlete Alice Finot, who broke the European record in women's 3,000-meter walking, proposed to her boyfriend after the race. 💍💕 pic.twitter.com/aGhtUqc469
— Tansu Yegen (@TansuYegen) August 7, 2024

Alice Finot
Despite missing out on a medal in the 3000 metres steeplechase, the French athlete still walked away with the prize she wanted most.
After breaking the European record on the field, the 33-year-old went to her partner, Spanish triathlete Bruno Martinez Bargiela, in the crowd and got down on one knee.
And instead of a ring, she unhooked and offered to him an Olympic pin that she had worn during the race that had the message: “Love is in Paris.”

😍 La belle histoire du jour 👉 https://t.co/Am8COMihz3 pic.twitter.com/lcz5d3qIDz
— La Provence (@laprovence) August 2, 2024

Mama Team
As French skiff sailors Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon returned to shore after winning bronze, their partners surprised them both by dropping to one knee and unfurling rings.
The overjoyed Olympic medallists – dubbed “Mama Team” – both said “oui”.
“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: ‘OK, so I won’t be engaged’,” Steyaert told a press conference after the medals ceremony.
But when the sailors got back to the beach in Marseille, both their boyfriends were waiting to propose. “Of course, we had to say yes,” Steyaert said.
Three proposals might have just seen France atop that particular podium.


Justin Best
Not only did the American rower bring home Team USA’s first gold in the 2000m men’s four in 60 years, but he also followed it up getting engaged to his girlfriend of nine years, Lainey Duncan.
On August 5, live on the Today show, Best popped the question to Duncan in the presence of family members holding 2,738 yellow roses – a symbol of every day the two maintained their Snapchat streak throughout the years.
“Paris is Lainey’s favourite city,” Best said, and he knew it would be the perfect place to propose after finding out the Games would be held there.


Chinese authorities investigating ‘malicious’ cyberbullying of diving star Quan Hongchan

Chinese Taipei boxer Lin Yu-ting takes bronze at Asian championships in competitive return

France suspects link to pro-Iranian group HAYI in foiled Paris bomb plot

French police foil Paris bomb attack outside US bank

Paris 2024 Olympic Games

An Olympics in the city of love? Of course people got engaged – here are our top 5 proposals

Liu Yuchen (right) and fiancee, gold medallist Huang Yaqiong, are all smiles after getting engaged in Paris. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese badminton player Liu Yuchen (right) gets down on one knee for Huang Yaqiong. Photo: Xinhua

Paris Olympics: tears for Hong Kong cyclist Ceci Lee – ‘I don’t know what I was doing’

Ceci Lee competing in the Olympic omnium. Photo: SF&OC

Ceci Lee delivered a passive performance in Paris. Photo: SF&OC

The Hongkonger hangs back in the bunch. Photo: SF&OC

Paris Olympics: IOC says US gymnast Chiles must hand back bronze after court ruling

US gymnasts Simone Biles (right), Sunisa Lee (left), Jordan Chiles (front), Jade Carey (back) and Hezly Rivera celebrate after winning the artistic gymnastics women’s team final. Photo: TNS

Sport

Paris Olympics 2024

China

The Buzz

The gold handed out in Paris didn’t go around just the athletes’ necks; there were plenty who left with some on their fingers, too


The gold handed out in Paris didn’t go around just the athletes’ necks; there were plenty who left with some on their fingers, too.


An Olympics in the city of love? Of course people got engaged – here are our top 5 proposals

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}The gold handed out in Paris didn’t go around just the athletes’ necks; there were plenty who left with some on their fingers, too

Huang Yaqiong

The gold handed out in Paris didn’t go around just the athletes’ necks; there were plenty who left with some on their fingers, too