Fencer Belén Pérez Maurice received a marriage proposal after her fall in the Tokyo 2020 debut

07/26/2021 12:28 AM

• Clarín.com

• sports

Updated 07/26/2021 12:36 AM

From sadness due to being eliminated too early to happiness due to a proposal that will change her life, Belén Pérez Maurice spent in Tokyo. The fencer from Buenos Aires fell 15-12 to Hungarian

Anna Marton

in her debut in the women's individual saber competition at the Olympic Games. But the disappointment at the quick end of his third Olympic experience completely disappeared when

Lucas Saucedo

, who in addition to being his coach is his partner for years, proposed to him before the television cameras.

After the defeat, while the 36-year-old Nicole was talking live with

Gonzalo Bonadeo

on

TyC Sports

, Saucedo wrote on a piece of paper: "Flaca, do you want to marry me ??? Po favo (sic)", he stood behind Bethlehem and held up the poster.

BELÉN PÉREZ MAURICE WAS PROPOSED TO BE A LIVE MARRIAGE I CAN'T BELIEVE IT pic.twitter.com/grWS38eCFI

- Cris (@ Cris_4288) July 26, 2021

When Pérez Maurice turned around and saw the message, he couldn't help but utter a cry of joy, which quickly turned into tears.

"How do you do it here?"

He asked him, smiling and powerlessly, what was happening to Saucedo, who even knelt, as tradition dictates.

And of course, seconds later, she accepted, through tears.

A while before, the Argentine -21st in London 2012 and 25th in Rio de Janeiro 2016- had been very close to getting her first victory in Tokyo.

She won the first round 8-5, but when she was 5-4 up the Hungarian suffered a blow to her left knee that forced her attention for two minutes.

Perez Maurice lost to the Hungarian Marton and said goodbye to Tokyo.

Photo AP Photo / Hassan Ammar

At the start of the second round, Argentina claimed a point asking for video but it was not granted and Marton equalized at 8, an instance that was repeated in reverse when they were even at 12, so the Hungarian 13-12 came forward and then stretched to 14-12.

Marton felt pain in his left knee again, but he couldn't get any more attention.

Anyway, he endured and ended up sealing the victory.

"The truth is that it is anyone," Pérez Maurice was heard saying in the background, addressing his coach, dissatisfied with two disputed failures that in both cases ended up favoring the Hungarian. But the row did not last long, because he closed his night overflowing with happiness over Saucedo's surprise proposal.