Originally appeared on E! Online
What's more precious than leaving the 2024 Olympics with a medal? (Or at least as precious?)
For the seven-and-counting couples who've taken the opportunity to get engaged during the Paris Games, there's another circular piece of hardware that means the world.
Chalk it up to adrenaline, endorphins, hearts bursting with emotion and — not least — being in one of the most romantic cities in the world, but love has been not just in the air, but also on the field, the beach, the track and a variety of courts.
"I was surprised by the engagement ring," badminton mixed doubles gold medalist Huang Yaqiong told Olympics.com after saying yes to Team China teammate Liu Yuchen's post-victory proposal. "I've been focusing on training to become an Olympic champion. I never expected it."
Extra points for the element of surprise then!
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
Huang's mixed doubles partner Zheng Siwei recalled getting engaged to his now-wife after taking silver with Huang in Tokyo — and he had to give it to Liu for making the most of a golden moment.
Paris 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics
Watch all the action from the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games live on Peacock
"I think it must be happier for [Huang]," Zheng said, according to the Associated Press. "Last time it was purely for my proposal, but this time is basically double lucky things happening at the same time."
Athletes from all over have had the same idea: How to make an already unforgettable day even more special?
"I told myself that if I ran under nine minutes, knowing that nine is my lucky number and that we've been together for nine years, then I would propose," French runner Alice Finot — who finished fourth in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase but broke the European record with her time of 8:58:67 — told the Daily Mail after she asked Spanish triathlete Bruno Martínez Bargiela to marry her.
Sí, oui, yes — they're now engaged.
Check out all the engaged athlete couples who've got a wedding to plan after the 2024 Olympics:
Maria Pilar Campoy and Pablo Simonet
Members of Team Argentina were gathering for a group pic a couple days before the July 26 Opening Ceremony when handball player Pablo Simonet broke out of the pack, got down on one knee and proposed to his longtime girlfriend, field hockey player Maria Pilar Campoy.
Alongside a video capturing the emotional moment, Simonet wrote on Instagram, "Paris is always a good idea."
Huang Ya Qiong and Liu Yuchen
Badminton player Huang Ya Qiong had just won gold with mixed doubles partner Zheng Siwei on Aug. 2 when their teammate Liu Yuchen got down on one knee and proposed he be Huang's partner for life.
"I cannot describe the feeling I have because I am happy, happy, happy," Ya Qiong told Olympics.com through an interpreter of storming back from a silver finish in Tokyo and getting engaged. "Getting the gold medal is recognition of our journey."
She was admittedly "surprised by the engagement ring," she added. "I've been focusing on training to become an Olympic champion. I never expected it."
And her fiancé's no slouch, Liu being a former world champion in men's doubles and a silver medalist in Tokyo.
Sarah Steyaert
Sailing partners Sarah Steyaert (at right) and Charline Picon have been dear friends for years — and they even got engaged together, their respective boyfriends proposing as soon as they finished their bronze medal-earning performance in the women's skiff 49er FX race on Aug. 2 in Marseilles.
Caveats be damned!
"Our boyfriends said at the beginning of the project that if we won a medal we would be engaged, but mine said 'Only gold or silver,'" Steyaert told reporters after the medal ceremony, "so after the medal race I said, 'Okay so I will not be engaged.'"
But her longtime partner, who was there to greet her on the shore with their young daughter, went through with it anyway.
Sarah quipped, "We had to say yes."
Charline Picone
"It was an amazing moment on the beach," Picone said of the dual proposals at the Roucas-Blanc Marina.
She and fiancé Jean-Emmanuel Mestre are parents to daughter Lou together.
Though while he told reporters Picone "plans to retire from sport," she said she didn't know what her plan was.
Surely, they will figure that out.
Payton Otterdahl
American shot putter Payton Otterdahl's fourth-place finish in Paris didn't stop him from keeping his eye on the real prize.
"Meanwhile, in the City of Love...," the two-time Olympian captioned a photo of the moment he put a ring on collegiate hammer thrower Maddy Nilles on Aug. 4 next to the Eiffel Tower.
Congratulations poured in, including from shot put silver medalist Joe Kovacs, his coach and wife Ashley Kovacs, and long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall.
Justin Best and Lainey Duncan
Surrounded by 2,738 yellow roses and with the Eiffel Tower squarely in the background, American rower Justin Best proposed to his girlfriend of nine-plus years, Lainey Duncan, on the TODAY show Aug. 5.
"I knew you were special—it was the first date," the athlete, fresh from winning gold in the coxless four, told his beloved. "I said to you, 'I wanted to go to the Olympics,' and you, without question, said 'Yeah, absolutely. Go for it.'"
And in case you were wondering...
"Each yellow rose represents a day that you and I have been together," Best continued. "Obviously we communicated through Snapchat. Our streak is 2,738 right now. So there are 2,738 yellow roses from Snapchat. Our love is truly now immortalized."
Kathryn Treder and Alev Kelter
As if there hadn't already been oodles of U.S. women's rugby excitement, the team winning the bronze match to claim Team USA's first-ever sevens medal.
But then center Alev Kelter caught another deft hand-off. As they all ascended the steps of the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris, twin sister Derya Kelter executed a slick pass with the ring so Alev could surprise girlfriend Kathryn Treder, who plays rugby for the U.S. women's XVs squad, with a proposal in front of family and friends.
All of which was shared by two-time Olympic skateboarder Heimana Reynolds.
"I have never done any sort of proposal photography," he captioned the Aug. 5 video on Instagram, "but when @alevkelter told me her plan and asked me if I would like capture this moment, I felt absolutely honored."
Commented Derya, "Okay now that I’m done crying can we go back to the CRUCIAL part of this video where I hand off the ring with seamless precision."
Bruno Martinez Bargiela and Alice Finot
Alice Finot first made a vow to herself: Break nine minutes in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase, propose to her boyfriend.
First, the French track star finished just shy of the podium in the Aug. 6 final but broke the European record (along with the three medalists) with her time of 8:58.67.
And then, she headed over to the stands and asked Bruno Martinez Bargiela, a triathlete from Spain, to marry her, offering up a competition memento instead of a ring.
"I told myself that if I ran under nine minutes, knowing that nine is my lucky number and that we’ve been together for nine years, then I would propose," Finot told reporters afterward, per the Daily Mail. "I don’t like doing things like everyone else. Since he hadn’t done it yet, I told myself that maybe it was up to me to do it. So, I gave a pin that I ran with to my boyfriend. On it, it says: 'Love is in Paris.'"
And, Finot noted, Bargiela said yes.
