Olympian Huang Yaqiong's gold medal celebration interrupted by proposal: Fans divided

Gold, silver, bronze and … diamond? An athlete received a marriage proposal shortly after winning big at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and fans aren’t sure how they feel about it.

Huang Yaqiong had a gold medal around her neck when Liu Yuchen, a fellow member of China’s Olympic badminton team, presented her with flowers, pulled a ring box out of his pocket and got down on one knee in front of a crowd of cheering fans. Yaqiong was still riding high from her and mixed doubles partner Zheng Siwe’s defeat of South Korea’s Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun when she accepted the marriage proposal.

Yaqiong later said via an interpreter that the proposal was “very surprising” to her as she “had been preparing for the match.” She shared photos of the unexpected moment via Instagram and thanked her now-fiancé for “making [her] day.” Still, some fans weren’t impressed with Yuhen’s timing.

“It’s the most selfish thing ever. Proposing in a moment where you’re supposed to be celebrating your partner,” one X user wrote. “You’re minimizing their moment and making it about yourself instead. Lazy and Selfish. You should plan a separate special event for the sole purpose of proposing.”

Others said they would have reacted very differently than Yaqiong if they’d been proposed to on the heels of a big achievement.

“Proposing to me after I win gold?? Baby you’ll never hear from me again! Had to make it about you,” one fan wrote.

Another quipped, “If my boyfriend ever did this i’m sucker punching him and getting on the podium.”

Not everyone agreed, however, that the proposal overshadowed Yaqiong’s victory.