- Athletes pledge love to one another in Paris
- Chinese badminton player Liu Yuchen proposes to Huang Yaqiong
- Paris Olympics website highlights others who have sealed the knot
The latest trend to hit the Paris Olympics is for athletes to pledge their undying love to one another.
Chinese badminton players Huang Yaqiong and Liu Yuchen are the latest to seal the knot.
Huang Yaqiong and her partner Zheng Siwei won the gold medal in the mixed doubles competition, beating South Korea’s Kim Wonho and Jeong Naeun with scores of 21-8, 21-11. Following their victory and the medal ceremony, Yaqiong received an unexpected and heart warming surprise from fellow Chinese badminton player Liu Yuchen.
Liu Yuchen, who previously won a silver medal in men’s doubles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and competed again in the men’s doubles in Paris, took this golden moment to propose to Yaqiong.
After the medal ceremony, he pulled out a ring, got down on one knee, and asked for her hand in marriage. Yaqiong, holding flowers from the ceremony, joyfully accepted his proposal. The touching moment was captured and displayed on the videoboard at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena, eliciting a celebratory response from the crowd.
This romantic proposal is part of a trend at the Paris Olympics, where engagements seem to be flourishing. The official Paris Olympics website highlighted that Argentina’s men’s handball player Pablo Simonet proposed to women’s field hockey player Maria Campoy in the Olympic Village, and American swimmer Lilly King got engaged to fiancé James Wells during the U.S. Olympic swimming trials.
