Alice Finot had herself quite a day at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Break a record, get engaged? All in a good day’s work.
Finot, representing the host country in the 3,000-meter steeplechase event didn’t win the event. She didn’t even medal. But in finishing fourth in 8:58.67, Finot set the European record in the event.
Winfred Mutile Yavi of Bahrain finished first, in 8:52.76, an Olympic record. Peruth Chemutai of Uganda, who led most of the race, finished second in 8:53.34. Faith Cherotich of Kenya finished third in 8:55.15.
Finot didn’t win the race, but she produced its most viral moment beyond the finish line.
French athlete Alice Finot broke the European record in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, finishing fourth in the final at the Paris Olympics. After the race, she proposed to her boyfriend, who accepted the proposal. pic.twitter.com/1MBf6t33Ri
— Jumbo Idawarifagha (@JumboIdawarifa3) August 7, 2024
In a video that went viral Wednesday, Finot approaches her boyfriend from among a group of spectators in the crowd, then gets to one knee and appears to hold up a pin.
The boyfriend— triathlete Bruno Martínez Bargiela from Spain — nods, then embraces Finot while a friend looks on. Finot pins a shiny object to his shirt. The couple, who have reportedly been together for nine years, presumably went on to live happily ever after.
Remarkably, Finot is not the first athlete to get engaged at these Olympic Games.
According to the Associated Press, Chinese badminton player Huang Ya Qiong, said yes to a wedding proposal by Li Yuchen, another member of China’s badminton team, after winning gold in badminton’s mixed doubles event.
“For me, the proposal is very surprising because I have been preparing for the game,” Huang said through an interpreter, according to the AP. “Today I am an Olympic champion and I got proposed (to), so that’s something I didn’t expect.”
Finot’s fourth-place finish was the final act in a remarkable performance at the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase event.
Yavi became the third athlete to win a gold medal for Bahrain at the Olympics. She’s the second from her country, following Ruth Jebet‘s gold at the Rio De Janeiro Games of 2016, to claim the women’s 3,000-meter steepleechase gold.
Yavi was born in Kenya but, looking to further her Olympic career, gained nationality in Bahrain.
Chemutai looked stunned as Yavi crossed the finish line first. According to the BBC,
The two athletes were locked together going into the home straight and remained neck-and-neck as they went over the final barrier with 50 metres to go. It was only in the last 20 metres that Kenyan-born Yavi, the gold medallist at last year’s World Championships in Budapest, was able to kick on ahead of her opponent as Chemutai’s resistance finally broke.
Despite the stunning result, it wasn’t even the most memorable moment from the race — at least, not for one happy couple.
The post Break Record, Get Engaged: Watch French Athlete’s Amazing Olympic Proposal appeared first on Newsweek.
