Chinese athlete proposed to right after winning Olympic gold medal

Winning an Olympic gold medal and getting married on the same day. Life couldn't be better for an athlete.

Huang Yaqiong has just experienced such moments, witnessed by the audience, admired by colleagues, and directly traveled around the world.

On the night of August 2 (Hanoi time), Huang Yaqiong and teammate Zheng Siwei brought home the first badminton gold medal for China at the 2024 Paris Olympics, in the mixed doubles event.

Huang and Zheng showed their superiority when they defeated the Korean pair Seo Seungjae and Chae Yujung with a score of 21-8, 21-11.

The lopsided final was settled in just 41 minutes. Huang/Zheng confirmed their status as the number 1 seeds.

Immediately after the medal ceremony, Huang unexpectedly received a marriage proposal from her boyfriend Liu Yuchen, who is also a teammate on the Chinese badminton team.

Liu got down on one knee and proposed in front of a large crowd at La Chapelle Arena.

In addition, the proposal was also witnessed by Huang's family, via video call.

"I can't describe how I feel because I'm happy, happy, happy", Huang said.

At first, she was surprised by her boyfriend's actions, and then moved to tears while nodding in agreement.

"Receiving the gold medal was a recognition of our journey. I was so surprised to receive the engagement ring", Huang continued.

The Olympic champion admitted:"I'm just focused on training to become an Olympic champion.

I never expected to get proposed to like this. I didn't even think about how we would celebrate the victory".

This is not the first proposal between athletes at the 2024 Olympics. Argentina's Pablo Simonet and Maria Campoy got engaged in the Olympic Village, ahead of the opening ceremony.

Pablo Simonet, a player on the men's handball team, proposed to Maria Campoy, a member of the Argentine women's hockey team.

Simonet and Campoy have been dating since 2015, experiencing the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro 2016 together. Eight years after the first Olympics, Paris - the city of love - is the ideal setting for the two to take the next step.