Love wins: Olympic skateboarder Margielyn Didal announces engagement to longtime partner

Love wins! 

Olympic skateboarder Margielyn Didal is now engaged to her longtime partner Jozel Manzanares.

The athlete announced the news on Instagram late Tuesday, Feb. 21 with a series of loved-up snaps from the proposal. “Yes or YES?!!” she captioned her post, revealing that she popped the question on their eighth anniversary as a couple.

“Cheers to our new begingneng (beginning),” she added. 

Didal caught the attention of sports fans with her infectious charm as she competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics’ women’s street skate event in July 2021, where she finished seventh place. 

In a press conference in August of the same year, the queer skateboarding star expressed her happiness about seeing members of the LGBTQ+ community at the Tokyo Olympics. “That makes me happy and I’m part of it and I have a girlfriend.” 

She then gave a shoutout to her parents who embraced her for who she really is. “I’m just thankful for them because they have accepted me. In sports, gender does not really matter,” she said.