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Italian sprinter Alessandro Ossola arrived at the Paris 2024 Paralympics looking for a gold medal, but he will leave with “something amazing” after proposing to his girlfriend in front of tens of thousands of fans in the Stade de France on Sunday.

At the end of his race, just after missing a place in the final of the T63 100m, the 36-year-old took the opportunity for an unforgettable proposal.

He ran to his parents and girlfriend Arianna in the stands, dropped to his knee and asked the question.

“She answered me ‘You’re crazy, you’re crazy’ and she kissed me, so it was exciting really,” Ossola told the ����ý World Service.

“I was unlucky, I didn’t achieve the final and I was really sad about it. But after three minutes, you know life is strange, I was really happy.”

This was a plan more than a month in the making.

Ossola knew wherever he finished in his race, he had a lot more on the line in the French capital than his result.

“I bought the ring, then I gave it to my friend to bring to me (at the end of the race),” he said.

“The Paralympics is like an amazing contest, an amazing place to do it and she was so beautiful.”

Rising out of 'darkness'

For Ossola, who lives in Turin and first competed at Tokyo 2020, his proposal had extra significance, given his journey and a life of incredible loss.

A motorcycle accident in 2015 resulted in the death of his first wife and meant Ossola had to have most of his left leg amputated.

It was a time where he says he could "see just darkness" around him.

"It’s a long journey, now I’m here I’m smiling," he added.

"I’m a positive guy but at the beginning [it] was a hard time. But sports help me exit this darkness, this turmoil."

Ossola credits his Para-athletics training with helping him focus on the future.

He hopes the Paralympics can do much more in improving perceptions about disability in wider society.

“I don’t like when the people say 'You are disabled, ah, you are going to Paralympics'.

"It’s not like that. You are going to the Paralympics if you are one of the best athletes in the world. This is why I am proud to be here."

For now, Ossola says his and Arianna's plans for the rest of their stay in Paris, as a newly engaged couple, will be simple.

“For sure a good dinner," he said.

"We love Paris and Paris - the city of love - was the right city to ask her to be my wife."