‘She said yes’: Track & field stars who have ‘gone off the market’ in 2024
Marriage proposals have been witnessed among track and field stars during the 2024 campaign but who are the athletes ending the season with an engagement ring on their finger?
The 2024 track and field season has witnessed a lot of drama on and off the track and but there have been wholesome moments that have captured the attention of fans.
Among them was watching the partners of various athletes attend events, especially the Paris 2024 Olympics, to support them and then there are those who are completing the season with an engagement ring on their fingers.
Pulse Sports highlights the track and field stars who have been taken off the market in 2024.
Athing Mu
Former Olympics 800m champion Athing Mu has a reason to smile after a turbulent 2024 season that left her in tears at some point.
Mu was proposed to by her fiancée early this month, although the identity of her prince charming, is yet to be disclosed.
The athlete shared photos of her engagement on Instagram but did not show the face of the man who went down on one knee to ask for her hand in marriage.
“In a year full of noes, Jesus has blessed me with a YES!,” the 22-year-old posted on Instagram.
Mu’s season was initially troubled by an injury, which forced her out of a number of events, before she had a brutal Olympics trials.
At the trials, she was tripped and fell in the 800m final, missing a place on the podium, an incident that left her in tears and any chance of being reinstated went up in smoke after her appeal was rejected.
Jasmine Camacho-Quinn
Puerto Rican hurdling queen Jasmine Camacho-Quinn was another track star who was taken off the market following a sweet proposal by her American boyfriend Donald Scott.
Camacho-Quinn took to Instagram to announce her engagement to Scott – a triple jumper and a 2022 world indoor bronze medallist in August, coming two weeks after she won bronze in 100m hurdles at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
To make it even special, Scott proposed on August 21, the day the sprinter was born, and it has acted as an inspiration somewhat as she went on to rack up wins on the Diamond League circuit before claiming the title at the season finale in Brussels.
Bruno Martinez Bargiela
Alice Finot first made a vow to herself: Break nine minutes in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase at the Olympics and propose to her boyfriend.
On August 6, the French runner did just that, finished just shy of the podium after coming fourth behind Winfred Yavi, Peruth Chemutai and Faith Cherotich in a time of 8:58.67.
She headed over to the stands and asked her boyfriend Bruno Martinez Bargiela, a triathlete from Spain, to marry her, offering up a competition memento instead of a ring.
Rarely do we see women proposing to men but Finot set new standards with this one that melted the hearts of fans worldwide.
Valarie Allman
After becoming the first American woman to win successive discus throw gold medals at the Olympics, Valarie Allman got engaged to her partner and coach Zeb Sion.
Delaware-born Allaman lives and trains in Austin where Sio serves as an assistant coach for throws at the University of Texas.
Payton Otterdahl
American shot putter Payton Otterdahl’s fourth-place finish at the Olympics 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 next to the Eiffel Tower on August 4
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Alessandro Ossola
Italian sprinter Alessandro Ossola may have failed to qualify for the 100m final at the 2024 Paralympics Games, but still went home a winner, after his girlfriend Arianna Mandaradoni accepted his marriage proposal shortly after he ran his heat.
Ossola was in a 2015 motorcycle accident which killed his wife and resulted in the loss of most of his left leg. He has said the sport helped him regain his purpose in life, and Mandaradoni’s support as he competed became a big part of that.