Breezy Johnson gets engaged at Winter Olympics after boyfriend proposes at finish line

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Four days after Breezy Johnson’s Winter Olympics began with skiing’s downhill gold medal, the American star added a new piece of jewelry.

An engagement ring.

Johnson’s boyfriend, Connor Watkins, proposed at the base of the super-G run in Cortina D’Ampezzo on Thursday, and Johnson tearfully accepted.

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Wearing a USA jacket, Watkins dropped to a knee in the finish area surrounded by skiers and competitors from other countries and raised a silver ring with a blue gem at its center. Johnson put a hand to her sunglasses as she became visibly emotional. After she said yes, Watkins stood and kissed Johnson as U.S. teammates and officials cheered.

Along with the ring, Watkins gave Johnson a piece of wood on which was carved "Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?" — lyrics from Taylor Swift's "The Alchemy."

Watkins said that he had planned the moment for a year but that it had "gone above and beyond our wildest imagination." Johnson had a hunch Watkins might propose, saying she "may have told him that I just always kind of had the dream of getting engaged at the Olympics."

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But did Johnson ever dream of getting engaged at the same Olympics where she had also won a gold medal?

"I mean, that was my hope!" she said. "But it's definitely a lot more crazy with everything just happening all at once, and the reality of it is so different than the way you imagined, and so much better."

Watkins was "really hoping that I could get in the finish area and do it the way I wanted. And it turned out we could, and we're just super excited."

The couple said they planned to spend Thursday celebrating with family members and friends in Cortina and hoped to make a getaway to Livigno, the site of other Olympic competitions.

"There's nothing better than doing well and having somebody to share it with," Johnson said.

The engagement came on a day of mixed emotions for Johnson. More than an hour before Watkins proposed, Johnson, 30, crashed during the super-G final. She was one of more than a dozen skiers who did not finish after they either crashed or skied off the course.

In 2022, Johnson came out as bisexual, posting on social media that she “wanted to be open about who I am.”

Watkins has cheered on Johnson from Cortina, including being in the stands for her gold medal in the women’s downhill Sunday, when Johnson joined Lindsey Vonn, in 2010, as the only American women to win the event.

Johnson missed out on a second medal in the team combined event Tuesday. Though she finished first in the downhill part, her teammate Mikaela Shiffrin struggled in the slalom, and they finished fourth.

Molly Hunter reported from Cortina d’Ampezzo and Andrew Greif from Milan.