Mid-interview marriage proposal helps Argentine fencer Maria Belen Perez Maurice forget Olympic loss
Argentine fencer Maria Belen Perez Maurice and her coach Lucas Saucedo holding up a note behind her. (Photo by Twitter)
TOKYO, July 27, 2021 – Argentine fencer Maria Belen Perez Maurice was doing a television interview after her 15-12 table-of-32 loss to Hungarian Anna Marton in the women's sabre individual on Monday when her coach Lucas Guillermo Saucedo, who is also her boyfriend of 17 years, proposed to her.
While Pérez Maurice was analysing her defeat to the Argentine television, Saucedo appeared in shot holding a note which asked: “Will you marry me??? Please?” in Spanish. A delighted Pérez Maurice screamed an instant yes.
“They (the press) told me to turn around, and he had the letter. I forgot everything. I was like, 'oh my god',” the 36-year-old said. “We are very happy. We are very good partners. Of course, we have fights, but we enjoy each other's time. We love each other so much, and we want to spend our lives together. We are going to celebrate in Buenos Aires with a big barbecue.”
Saucedo said he had started contemplating the proposal the night before, in spite of not having a ring. But he decided to pop the question when Pérez Maurice lost. He would have waited if she made it through the rounds.
“I love her, and when she lost the match (to Marton) she got very sad, so maybe this proposal should change her mentality. I wrote on the paper in the moment. If she had won, no, I would have waited for the moment.”
Saucedo had failed in his first proposal attempt, which happened in Paris after the 2010 World Fencing Championships. “She said no,” the 51-year-old said. “After she competed, we went out for a coffee and a walk, then I asked her, and she told me, ‘it is a joke, no, I am young, maybe in the future’.
Fencing brought Pérez Maurice and Saucedo together. Saucedo had also represented Argentina in fencing before becoming a coach. Pérez Maurice was one of his pupils and they eventually became a couple.
Paris or the Dominican Republic, where Pérez Maurice’s sister lives, will be considered as possible venues for their wedding.
While Pérez Maurice was analysing her defeat to the Argentine television, Saucedo appeared in shot holding a note which asked: “Will you marry me??? Please?” in Spanish. A delighted Pérez Maurice screamed an instant yes.
“They (the press) told me to turn around, and he had the letter. I forgot everything. I was like, 'oh my god',” the 36-year-old said. “We are very happy. We are very good partners. Of course, we have fights, but we enjoy each other's time. We love each other so much, and we want to spend our lives together. We are going to celebrate in Buenos Aires with a big barbecue.”
Saucedo said he had started contemplating the proposal the night before, in spite of not having a ring. But he decided to pop the question when Pérez Maurice lost. He would have waited if she made it through the rounds.
“I love her, and when she lost the match (to Marton) she got very sad, so maybe this proposal should change her mentality. I wrote on the paper in the moment. If she had won, no, I would have waited for the moment.”
Saucedo had failed in his first proposal attempt, which happened in Paris after the 2010 World Fencing Championships. “She said no,” the 51-year-old said. “After she competed, we went out for a coffee and a walk, then I asked her, and she told me, ‘it is a joke, no, I am young, maybe in the future’.
Fencing brought Pérez Maurice and Saucedo together. Saucedo had also represented Argentina in fencing before becoming a coach. Pérez Maurice was one of his pupils and they eventually became a couple.
Paris or the Dominican Republic, where Pérez Maurice’s sister lives, will be considered as possible venues for their wedding.
News from the same category
