Did you see it? If you were watching the U.S. Figure Skating Championships this weekend you likely witnessed one of the romantic moves ever performed on ice.
I guess pairs figure skater John Baldwin couldn’t wait for Valentine’s Day.
It’s a moment that is now frozen in time for many spectators—-especially the expression on Rena Inoue’s face when her skating partner of seven years got down on one knee in the middle of the ice and proposed to her.
Baldwin asked Inoue for her hand in marriage just moments after the pair completed their silver-medal-winning performance Saturday in St. Paul, Minnesota.
I think the crowd answered before Inoue did.
Thousands of fans who packed into the Xcel Center read Baldwin’s lips on the jumbotron and began chanting, “Yes! Yes!”
All the while the 31-year-old former singles skater from Japan stood frozen on the ice dumbfounded by what was taking place.
“I was shocked!” Inoue told reporters shortly after she exited the ice. “I saw him on one knee and thought he was going to tell me how proud he was – and then he asked me to marry him. Then I started crying and I said yes.”
Awwww!
Frankly, I don’t blame Inoue for shedding a few tears given her history with Baldwin. The two began skating together in 2000 after trading in the respective singles careers and went on to compete together at the Torino Olympics. They finished 7th in Italy and have since won two U.S. national pairs titles.
On Saturday, they came in second behind skaters Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker, but skating away with the silver hardly seemed like a consolation prize to the stunned bride-to-be.
“I always thought we would never get married,” Inoue said. “He was always saying, ‘You can propose to me.’ He seemed serious.”
For his part Baldwin revealed that his mid-ice proposal was a spur-of-the-moment move.
“When I woke up [that] morning, I decided now was the time,” Baldwin explained. “We have been together as a couple for five years and everything I have accomplished is because of her. I didn’t want to let anyone else have the chance.”
If you were wondering if Baldwin pulled out a ring for his new fiancée shortly after they left the ice (where would he hide a ring in a skin-tight outfit)-—he didn’t.
Still you have to hand it to the guy who turned a silver-medal-winning performance into a golden opportunity.
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