Justin Best led Team USA to the top of the podium in the men's four rowing event at the 2024 Summer Olympics — and now he's going for the gold in his love life.
The rowing star proposed to his girlfriend, Lainey Duncan, live on TODAY in Paris on Aug. 5, in what appeared to be a complete surprise for his longtime partner.
"Lainey Olivia Duncan, you are the love of my life," Best said as he got down on one knee, with the Eiffel Tower in the background. "You have been with me since day one."
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"I knew you were special — it was the first date. I said to you, 'I wanted to go to the Olympics,' and you, without question, said 'Yeah, absolutely. Go for it,'" he said. "You are stunningly beautiful. ferociously intelligent. Your kindness is bent leaps and bounds — I don't know anyone that doesn't love you."
He concluded: "This is going to be the easiest question of my life. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and raise a family together. Lainey, Will you marry me?"
Duncan immediately said yes, before noting that her red lipstick was all over Best's face. "You look fabulous!" she shouted.
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Best, 26, then explained the meaning of the thousands of yellow flowers behind them.
"Each yellow rose represents a day that you and I have been together," he said. "Obviously we communicated through Snapchat. Our streak is 2,738 right now. So there are 2,738 yellow roses from Snapchat. Our love is truly now immortalized."
Duncan replied: "I am so, so happy. This is the best day of my life!"
Best, along with his teammates Nick Mead, Michael Grady and Liam Corrigan, brought home the gold in men’s four rowing on Aug. 1 for the first time since 1960.
“I am just as nervous as I was lining up for the start line,” Best said after he proposed. “I don’t know — if I had a heart rate monitor on, it might be like 130 beats per minute.”
TODAY’s Craig Melvin quipped Best got the gold and the girl, leading Best to reply: "I got the gold and the girl — and she got the diamond!"
Best and Duncan celebrated their ninth anniversary earlier this year.
The pair share an affinity for Halloween, and their costumes over the years have ranged from Elvis and Priscilla Presley to Dwight and Angela from "The Office."
Best got his start in rowing after his parents watched the 2010 film "The Social Network," according to his Team USA profile. His parents thought he would be good for the sport because of his likeness to the actors who portrayed the Winklevoss twins, as they had “big upper bodies,” and signed him up for a summer camp the next day.
He went on to row for Drexel University and compete in the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Duncan also attended Drexel and graduated with a degree in fashion/apparel design, according to her LinkedIn.
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