Marriage proposals — a new Olympic spectacle
Is Rio trying to steal the world title for City of Love? It all started on the third day of festivities at the Rio Summer Games: Marjorie Enya proposed to her rugby player girlfriend Isadora Cerullo on the sidelines of the field after Brazil's women's rugby sevens team played their final game. Headlines declaring "Love wins!" surfaced, as people celebrated the first public same-sex marriage proposal in Olympic Games history. Fast forward to Day 12, and public proposals seem to be the latest Olympic event. Here are the five that followed after Enya and Cerullo kicked it off.
Divers He Zi and Qin Kai
On Day 9, Chinese diver Qin Kai's proposal to fellow diver and silver medallist He Zi did not garner the same reaction as Enya and Cerullo's. While many media outlets initially gushed over the scene, drawing more attention to the proposal than Zi's silver medal result (the CBC tweeted: “What’s better than an Olympic medal? A proposal!”), Kai has since been widely criticized for upstaging her win with the proposal.
Dressage rider Charlotte Dujardin and Dean Wyatt Golding
Turns out the British rider (who won gold in the dressage individual competition on Day 10) and her boyfriend were already engaged, but that didn't stop Golding from wearing a t-shirt with the words “Can we get married now?” on it to her competition, generating buzz of another public proposal. Dujardin explained to the media afterwards that Golding asked her to marry him before the London 2012 Olympics, and that he wore the shirt in public with the hopes of speeding things up.
Race walker Tom Bosworth and Harry Dineley
On Day 11 of the Games, British race walker Tom Bosworth dropped down on one knee on Copacabana Beach and popped the question to his boyfriend Harry Dineley. He posted the above photo to his Instagram with the caption, "Could this week get any better? He said yes by the way!"
Athletics Olympians Will Claye and Queen Harrison
The latest in public proposals to occur while the Olympic cameras were rolling came from American jumper Will Claye. After winning the silver medal in the men's triple jump final on the evening of Day 11, Claye raced in to the stands and presented American hurdler, and his longtime girlfriend, Queen Harrison with a diamond ring. Judging from her Instagram caption, we suspect she's pretty happy about it: "Some things couldn't even be imagined. I love you forever, my fiancé @willclaye."
Swimmers Aliaksandra Herasimenia and Yauhen Tsurkin
Lastly, there's Belarusian swimmers Aliaksandra Herasimenia and Yauhen Tsurkin. Not much is known about their proposal, except that it happened early on in the Games. Herasimenia, who won bronze in the 50-metre freestyle, told the media, "I had a great Olympics and he did not swim so good. But I love him anyway, even if he could not swim at all.” Tsurkin came in 30th and 35th in his events.
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