Team USA Rower Steals Hearts with Live TV Proposal to Girlfriend

The Team USA rower popped the question with the Eiffel Tower in the background and as his family stood by holding 2,738 yellow roses.

PARIS, France — Olympic rower Justin Best is leaving Paris with a gold medal and a fiancée.

Just days after contributing to Team USA’s historic victory in the men’s four rowing event, Best made another memorable move. During a live TODAY broadcast in Paris, he proposed to his longtime girlfriend, Lainey Duncan.

“Lainey Olivia Duncan, you are the love of my life. You have been with me since Day 1,” Best declared before going down on one knee.

Best recounted their first date, reminiscing on how Lainey supported his Olympic dreams from the start. “You are stunningly beautiful, ferociously intelligent. Your kindness is bent leaps and bounds — I don’t know anyone that doesn’t love you,” he said.

He then asked, “Will you marry me?”

Duncan promptly accepted, and the couple kissed with the Eiffel Tower as their backdrop, surrounded by Best’s family holding baskets of yellow roses.

Gold medal winning rower Justin Best just proposed to his girlfriend Lainey, live on TODAY! tweeted the official TODAY show account. Each yellow rose represents the time they’ve been together and the days they’ve have had a Snapchat streak!

Best explained the significance of the 2,738 yellow roses. “Each yellow rose represents a day that you and I have been together,” he said. Their Snapchat streak, symbolized by the roses, stands at 2,738 days.

On the competitive front, Best, along with teammates Liam Corrigan, Michael Grady, and Nick Mead, clinched gold in the men’s four final. They outpaced New Zealand and defending world champion Britain to secure the top spot.