Torchbearer proposes to girlfriend while carrying Olympic flame

The Olympic torch relay had its first marriage proposal on Monday.

David State, 25, was carrying an Olympic torch between Marske-by-the-Sea and Loftus when he stopped, dropped to one knee and proposed to his girlfriend, Christine Langham. The eight-month pregnant Langham said yes, to the delight of the crowd.

"I was in complete shock," she said. "I think I still am, it [was] obviously emotional anyway watching him run with the torch, but then he palmed it off with somebody and got down on one knee. I was surprised I didn't give birth there and then. I was trying not to cry, at first I was in a fit of sobs a little bit and then said yes."

State was selected to carry the torch due to his volunteer work with the Scout movement in England. He has raised over $15,000 over the past four years for various causes.

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He came up with the plan in February, after he was announced as a torchbearer. As he told the Daily Mail, the only problem with his plan was that he had to leave his fiancee behind after the proposal so he could finish his part of the torch relay.

He said: "I can't really explain it. [The] only thing that could come out of my mouth at the time was 'I've got to go' and I ran off with the torch. I think if I'd stayed any longer I would have burst into tears. Christine was crying her eyes out, bless her."

While we generally frown on marriage proposals at sporting events, the tale of David and Christine is larger than that. It's not exactly getting on a Kiss Cam at an Orioles game and popping the question while the guy next to you feasts on nachos and Natty Boh. Going to a sporting event isn't a big moment in your life. It's merely *a* moment in yours and 18,000 other people's. But running a leg of the Olympic torch relay in your home country? That's special.

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Christine is due to have the couple's first child on July 10, two weeks before the opening of the London Olympics.

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