Breezy Johnson knew one thing for sure when she packed up her skis and headed to the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics: she had gold on her mind. And while the Olympic skier got the medal she was looking for when she won the women’s downhill last week, the unexpected shine came when fiancé Connor Watkins was waiting for her at the finish of the Super-G race with an engagement ring in a wooden ring box featuring an engraving of one of Johnson’s favorite Taylor Swift lyrics.
The engraving from Swift’s song “The Alchemy” read: “Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?”
The best part came when Swift responded to the special moment by quoting another lyric from the song featured on her Tortured Poets Department album in the replies, writing, “Where’s the trophy? He just comes running over to me,” along with “CONGRATULATIONS!”
Now Johnson is talking about the Swift shout-out and making wedding plans, and you can be sure that the “Opalite” singer is on the guest list.
“The Taylor Swift comment was not something that I ever expected,” Johnson told People magazine about the surprise shout-out. “It was really cool seeing her comments, seeing her just love love.” Swift, who is engaged to NFL star Travis Kelce, with a wedding date not yet announced, is, of course, welcome to join Johnson and Watkins on their big day. “I mean, listen, Taylor can probably go to any wedding in the U.S. and everybody would welcome her with open arms,” said Johnson. “She is of course welcome to join. I do not expect her to have any time to do that, but…”
Johnson said she’d been dropping hints for more than a year that she loved the idea of an Olympics engagement, but the couple had a plan B in case the skier wasn’t feeling it on the day of. “I was like, ‘If I panic text you that morning then eject,’” she said. “But I actually felt good about it, and obviously everything kind of went to plan … It was perfect.”
In the end, Watkins nailed it, from the sweet proposal that made Johnson cry to the Swift engraving that filled her heart. “One of my favorite other lyrics from the song is, ‘Where’s the trophy? He just comes running over to me,’” Johnson said of the line that Swift repeated back to her, saying it “was cool” for the singer to pick those exact words in response. “The Taylor Swift comment was not something that I ever expected. It was really cool seeing her comments, seeing her just love love.”
Though she’s not in Italy for the Games, Swift has made her presence felt at this year’s Winter Games. Earlier this month, she filmed a video wishing the athletes luck aired during NBC’s opening ceremony for the Games. “Getting to learn your stories, and seeing everything you sacrificed and all your determination and hard work and passion … it’s just really inspiring,” Swift said in the video. “I am very grateful for everything you’ve done to get to this point in your life and grateful that you’ve brought all of us along on this journey.”
