Rachel shows off her engagement ring following a proposal in front of the Olympic StadiumWhile on a tour around the Park, Tom Clift, from Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, took the chance to propose to his girlfriend Rachel Walker by the Olympic Stadium site. Rachel, who competed in the Beijing 2008 Games for Team GB’s Hockey team and who has over 140 caps for England and Team GB, said ‘yes’ – to Tom’s delight.
Tom, who works for the Coventry and Warwickshire 2012 Partnership, which is helping to promote the 2012 Games in the West Midlands, said: ‘Given both our passions for the Olympics, it was a dream come true to be able to propose to the woman I love by the Olympic Stadium.
‘With Rachel being an Olympian and my own work securing 2012 opportunities and benefits for Coventry and Warwickshire, we’d like our wedding to have a subtle Olympic theme so this was the perfect start to our plans. It was great to see the Olympic Park at first hand and I look forward to coming back here as a married man in 2012 to cheer Team GB and possibly Rachel on to gold.’
More than 4,000 people joined bus tours around the Olympic Park during the weekend. Visitors were able to see the progress on the construction of the main venues for the London 2012 Games, including the Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Centre and Velodrome.
Olympic Delivery Authority Chairman John Armitt said: ‘The Olympic Stadium will be the place for athletes around the world to realise their dreams in 2012 and I’m delighted that it has already given one lucky couple a day they’ll never forget.
The marriage proposal was a great highlight of what was a fantastic Open House weekend where thousands of visitors saw at first hand the good progress being made in the construction of the Olympic Park.’
Visitors
also had the chance to meet athletes including Tessa Sanderson CBE and Sally
Gunnell OBE; ParalympicsGB swimmer Heather Frederiksen and Team GB middle-distance runner Lisa Dobriskey.
Read the full media release
Read Tom's blog about the proposal
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