Chinese Badminton Player Receives Wedding Proposal from Teammate After Winning Olympic Gold Medal

Liu Yuchen surprised Huang Ya Qiong with flowers and a proposal after she won the gold medal in Badminton in Paris

Chinese Olympian Huang Ya Qiong scored a gold medal and a marriage proposal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.  

The 30-year-old badminton player and her doubles partner Zheng Siwei won the gold in badminton mixed doubles against South Korean team Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun on Thursday, Aug. 2. 

Shortly after the medal ceremony concluded, Huang’s fellow Olympic teammate and men’s doubles player Liu Yuchen surprised her with a bouquet of flowers. Liu then got down on one knee and proposed to her in front of the crowd at La Chapelle Arena. 

Huang tearfully accepted and the crowd cheered for the couple as Liu – who previously won the silver medal in men’s badminton at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics – slipped the ring onto her finger. 

According to the official Olympics website, Huang said she “cannot describe the feeling I have because I am happy, happy, happy.” 

“I was surprised by the engagement ring. I’ve been focusing on training to become an Olympic champion. I never expected it,” she said and added that she hadn’t thought about how we will celebrate.”

Related: All the Couples Who Are Both Competing at the Paris Olympics [PHOTOS]

People across social media shared their reactions to the sweet moment and congratulated the couple on their engagement. “Siwei Yaqiong may won the gold medal, but Yuchen won Yaqiong's heart????????,” one user posted on X (formerly known as Twitter). 

“For me, the proposal is very surprising because I have been preparing for the game,” Huang told the Associated Press through an interpreter. “Today I am an Olympic champion and I got proposed (to), so that’s something I didn’t expect.”

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Huang’s sweet proposal is not the first Olympic-centric proposal to take place so far. Shortly before the Paris Games kicked off on July 24, Argentinian field hockey player Maria Campoy’s boyfriend Pablo Simonet – who plays for the Argentina's men's handball team – proposed to her at the Olympic Village.

The Argentina's handball and field hockey teams initially posed for a group photo together in their matching uniforms near the River Seine before Simonet, 32, proposed to a surprised Campoy, 34, before she said yes. 

In an Instagram post, Simonet wrote in Spanish that "the woman in my life gave me a 'yes' ???? ❤️ in a dream place, where everything came from and where we fought so much to be."

To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, come to people.com to check out ongoing coverage before, during and after the games. And sign up for Going for Gold, our Olympics newsletter, to get the biggest stories from the Games delivered straight to your inbox. Watch the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, beginning July 26, on NBC and Peacock.

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