Breezy Johnson gets engaged at Winter Olympics after super-G flop
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Breezy Johnson missed out on a gold medal after dropping out of the women's Super G (left), but gained a fiance when her boyfriend proposed at the finish line.
PHOTOS: EPA, X/@OLYMPICS
- American skier Breezy Johnson got engaged at the Milan-Cortina Games on Feb 12 after her boyfriend, Connor Watkins, proposed in the snow at the finish area.
- Watkins had planned the Olympic proposal for a year, despite Johnson crashing in her final super-G race; he worried about her safety first.
- Johnson, who had already won a downhill gold, emotionally accepted, fulfilling her dream of an Olympic engagement and combining two of her loves.
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CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy - Breezy Johnson might have failed in her attempt to win double Olympic gold after crashing out of super-G, but her day was brightened by getting engaged in the snowy setting of the Italian Dolomites on Feb 12.
Already a gold medal winner in the downhill at the Milan-Cortina Games, Johnson has conquered the heart of Connor Watkins, who dropped to his knee at the finish line after his girlfriend failed to finish a race won by Italy’s Federica Brignone.
American teammates and officials cheered after an emotional Johnson accepted Watkins’ proposal, which she said was what she had always wanted.
Asked if she knew a proposal was coming, Johnson said: “I always dreamed of getting proposed to at the Olympics, so I had an inkling”.
“At my first Games (2018 Pyeongchang), there was talk that one of my teammates was going to get engaged at the Olympics, and it kind of just stuck in my mind.
“I feel like it was just, it felt fitting to kind of combine two of my loves... also you get free photography,” she added.
Watkins, who works in the construction industry in the USA, said he had been planning the proposal, which he did with a custom-made ring, “for about a year”.
“It was a little challenging, but it really paid off, and I’m very happy about it,” said Watkins, who added he proposed on Thursday because it was Johnson’s last race of the Olympics.
“I wanted to make sure the racing came first and foremost, and then we would do this after that was done.” AFP
