Maltais celebrates bronze with joke proposal to Ricker on flag (Same Sex Marriage Alert)

Canada.com ^ | February 17, 2006 | Canadian Press

[Loyalist]

BARDONECCHIA, Italy (CP) - Those snowboarders sure know how to pull a prank.

Montrealer Dominique Maltais celebrated her Olympic bronze medal in the women's snowboard cross event Friday by hoisting a Canadian flag with a saucy proposition for teammate Maelle Ricker.

"Marry me Maelle," read the flag, which was signed, "Dom 3:16."

The image was captured in a photo and begged the question of whether it was just a joke or an actual proposal, with the possibility it would highlight the right to same-sex marriage in Canada on the world stage at the Olympic Games.

Turns out it was just a prank and that the snowboarders' reputations as jokesters is well-deserved.

The two are close friends - and nothing more.

"I wouldn't think so," Maltais's father, Gerald, replied from his home near Quebec City when asked Friday if the proposal was real.

Gerald Maltais said the marriage proposal was probably a gesture of support for Ricker, who crashed in the final, was taken to hospital and later released with a slight concussion. Maltais, a firefighter, survived the crash-filled race to finish third.

An official at Canadian Snowboard Federation's Vancouver office laughed and said it had to be a prank because Ricker, of Whistler, B.C., has a boyfriend.

Gerald Maltais watched the competition with family and friends at a ski chalet in Petite-Riviere-Saint-Francois.

"She put us through some breath-taking moments," he said. "And then we saw her cross the finish line and she had won the bronze medal."

© The Canadian Press 2006

[Loyalist]

Maltais: Left. Ricker: Right.

What a tasteless stunt to pull at the Olympics.

[Lawgvr1955]

I imagine you pull a stunt like that in the ancient Olympics and your head would end up on a pike.

[melt]

For the rest of their lives, they will have to explain away the "rumors". That is, if they ARE only "rumors"...