Wedding rings should be kept away from the Olympics

I felt rather sorry for Chinese Olympian He Zi yesterday. Having picked up the silver gong in a women’s diving competition, her boyfriend decided then was the perfect time to propose. Without a thought for Ms Gold and Bronze, he jumped onto the podium and professed his love to his tearful girlfriend. The media claimed Zi was crying out of happiness, but part of me wondered if she was thinking: ‘Darling, couldn’t this have waited for an Italian restaurant?’

The diver is not the first woman to be proposed to at the Olympics – and she won’t be the last. On Tuesday it was the turn of Brazilian rugby player Isadora Cerullo, whose girlfriend popped the question after her match. It’s understandable why people want to propose at the Olympics. It’s an event that fuels heightened emotions, and judging by the last games – in which 150,000 condoms were handed out, and these ones, where 450,000 condoms have been distributed, athletes are very loving people.