It’s not the first time this has happened on the global sporting stage. Back at the Rio Olympics in 2016, Chinese diver He Zi had just been given a silver medal for the women’s three-metre springboard when her boyfriend Qin Kai (also a diver) got down on one knee and proposed.

A similar situation played out last week in the US, where Cornelia Nicholson – a news reporter in Tennessee – was recording a promotional video for Local 3 News when her partner Riley Nagel surprised her with a proposal live on air. Nagel had coordinated with staff at the station so that Nicholson would effectively start reading out the proposal from the teleprompter until Nagel appeared with flowers and a ring.

I still remember a public proposal like this happening at my graduation ceremony a few years ago, where a young woman had walked on stage to receive her degree certificate and was then greeted by her partner waiting at the bottom of the stage down on one knee. In the moment, she appeared overjoyed – but when I chatted to her later in the day, she told me that a small part of her wished he hadn’t proposed on her graduation day. I had never really thought about public proposals until that day, but seeing one unfold made me reflect on how this woman’s huge personal milestone will now always be overshadowed by a proposal. I didn’t find it sweet or romantic, just cringey and disappointing.

Would you say yes? The case against public proposals