Aussie Olympian Tilly Kearns recently shared the heartwarming story of how her boyfriend surprised her during the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Kearns, an Australian water polo player, competed in the finals against Spain, ultimately earning a silver medal.
The athlete received an unforgettable surprise when she entered the swimming arena and spotted her long-distance boyfriend in the stands. She has now opened up about how this surprise came to be.
“Firstly, he’s a rookie in the NFL and had his first ever NFL game the next day, so it literally wasn’t even on my radar,” Kearns revealed.
“Like, he was just doing his thing, I was doing mine, and we both knew we couldn’t be there to support each other in person.”
Kearns is in a relationship with American football player Justin Dedich. After playing college football at the University of Southern California, Dedich was drafted by the NFL to join the Los Angeles Rams.
Kearns showed a clip of her walking beside the pool as her friends and family cheered her on.
Her disbelief was evident when she spotted Dedich in the stands.
“This is one of my old water polo coaches, so I was already shocked to see him,” she said over the clip. “Then I walked a bit further and that’s when I saw him.”
She detailed how Dedich managed to pull off the surprise despite his significant NFL debut being so close to his Paris trip.
“It turns out that after we won our semi-final and advanced to the gold medal game, he went up to his head coach and, quite boldly, asked, ‘Tell me if I’m out of line, but can I go?'” she explained.
Dedich surprised Kearns at her gold medal match, despite having his first NFL game the following day. (Instagram: Justin Dedich)
“And the coach said, ‘Yeah man, what are you still doing here? Go.’ So he boarded a plane that night and flew over.” Kearns noted that Dedich was in Paris for less than 24 hours.
“I couldn’t even see him after the game because he rushed to the airport and immediately flew back, a grueling 11-hour journey to America, to make it for his first NFL game. And, by the way, he absolutely crushed it.”