The Reaction to Olympic Diver He Zi's Viral Proposal Story Isn't All Praise

Impact

A silver medal! A diamond ring! A viral/heartwarming proposal story to tell the grandchildren in 40 years!

Chinese diver He Zi was awarded all of this and more on Sunday at the Rio Olympics. After winning the silver in the Women's diving 3-meter Springboard Final, He's boyfriend Qin Xai did that whole down-on-one-knee thing and popped the question. You can watch it play out below:

It's a touching moment, indeed! Lots of people are having feels all over Twitter. But not everyone loved it. Some people have tweeted their opinion that Qin totally stole He's thunder, and others believe that some of the media reaction to the proposal has been a lil' problematic.

Jezebel criticized BBC's coverage of the spectacle, arguing that the news outlet's decision to refer to the proposal as "an even bigger prize" than her silver medal was making the assumption that He cares more about getting hitched than she does her own accomplishments:

Perhaps, for Zi, the engagement is more meaningful than winning the silver medal in her sport. It's not for anyone else to decide which should carry more weight — or if the experiences are even comparable. But when a media outlet refers to a proposal as more significant than a woman's individual achievement, it is making that decision for her.

It appears that the BBC has since changed its wording to "another prize," so now we can all rest peacefully at night. And as for the newly-engaged silver medalist herself: She seems happy!

"We've been dating for six years, but I didn't expect him to propose today," He said in the BBC article. "He said a lot of things, made a lot of promises, but I think the thing that touched me the most is I think this is the guy I can trust for the rest of my life."

So to recap: Medaling at the Olympics is great in that it's a major accomplishment few athletes ever achieve. Being proposed to is great in that it entails being loved for the rest of your life, even if it's obviously more common than winning an Olympic medal. These are two extremely different life milestones, and we shouldn't have to rank them. We should just watch along and cry from home because it's very special when both happen to someone on the same day! Awww.