Love is in the air for two newly engaged Americans who competed in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Both athletes recently popped the big question in the City of Love, using the iconic Eiffel Tower as the backdrop for their romantic proposals, making their Olympic experience special in more ways than one.
Gold medalist Olympic rower Justin Best, 26, proposed to his girlfriend of nine years, Lainey Duncan, on live TV Monday. Best got down on one knee and popped the question with family members holding baskets of 2,738 yellow roses surrounding the couple, with each rose representing a day the pair had been together.
“I knew you were special—it was the first date. I said to you, ‘I wanted to go to the Olympics,’ and you, without question, said ‘Yeah, absolutely. Go for it,'” he said, with the Eiffel Tower in the background. “You are stunningly beautiful. ferociously intelligent. Your kindness is bent leaps and bounds—I don’t know anyone that doesn’t love you.”
Duncan, wearing a long white dress, appeared stunned and emotional as she accepted the proposal.
“I got the gold and the girl. And she got the diamond!” Best said.
The happy couple was joined by Best’s teammates, Nick Mead, Michael Grady, and Liam Corrigan. The new Olympic medalists recently won gold for Team USA, the first gold medal in the men’s four rowing competition in 64 years.
Just the day before, shot putter Payton Otterdahl, 28, revealed on social media that he had popped the question in front of the Eiffel Tower. Otterdahl, a former North Dakota State NCAA champion thrower, declared his love for his fiancé while on bended knee in Paris on Sunday.
“Meanwhile, in the City of Love… I love you forever, Maddy Nilles!” he posted on Instagram, along with a series of photos with his new fiancé.
Although the shot putter came in fourth place in Saturday’s final, he scored his personal best with a throw of 22.03 meters. Team USA also still scored two medals in the competition. This was Otterdahl’s second Olympic Games after he competed in Tokyo three years ago.
The Eiffel Tower, an iconic landmark associated with romance, is ranked fourth in the list of most popular places in the world to pop the question, according UK-based wedding site Hitched.