Paralympian’s romantic Paris proposal after tragic loss

Paralympic runner Alessandro Ossola of Team Italy has proposed to his girlfriend Arianna Mandaradoni at Paris 2024.
The athlete had just been eliminated in the men’s 100m – T63 heat. Not one to let it get him down, Ossola, 36, made his way over to Mandaradoni, got down on bended knee and popped the question.
”You’re crazy!” Mandaradoni initially responded according to Olympics.com, before she said, “Yes.”
Watch the video above.
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The two then shared a kiss in front of the smiling and cheering crowd.
Ossola lost his first wife and his left leg in a motorcycle accident in 2015. Before then, he had been working as a technical artist.
He was able to rebuild his life, crediting sport with giving him “a way to take action and a way out of a very dark period.”
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“After my accident, I lost a lot, everything but my smile, but sport pushed me to smile more and more,” he told Olympics.com.
“Some might say today wasn’t an amazing day for me from a sporting perspective. I say it was. At 36 years old, I was competing with the best in the world, and I’m really proud of that.”
He hinted that this may be his last Paralympics, saying he feels he has “closed that circle.”
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“Now, I’m ready to start along a new path because my life isn’t over, and I have many things left to do,” he said.
Ossola described his relationship with Mandaradoni as “a maelstrom because every athlete needs people around them to push them.”
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“Sometimes she believed in me more than I believed in myself, and that’s something truly amazing,” he said.
Of his choice to propose in Paris, Ossola said: “The Stade de France is the best location I could have ever chosen, and Arianna is a very special person, so I was really happy to do this here.”
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“Having my family in the stadium – seeing my mum crying with joy and my father beaming with pride – was something that made me truly happy,” he continued.
“It’s not just the athlete who achieves results; it’s the support of the girlfriend, the boyfriend, the family, and the team that matters.”
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