Aussie Olympic cult hero Michelle Jenneke reveals she’s engaged after conserving her romance a secret
Michelle Jenneke has revealed she is engaged to fellow Aussie athletics star Alex Beck after the couple kept their romance a secret.
The hurdler who rose to fame partly thanks to her pre-race warm-up dance announced the stunning news on Instagram on Sunday afternoon, posting pictures of her showing off her engagement ring and beaming with joy as she embraced her man.
Jenneke simply captioned the post ‘8.5 years in the making’ with red-heart and engagement-ring emojis.
The news saw the couple congratulated by other Aussie athletics stars including Mia Gross, Brooke Stratton and Cameron McEntyre.
Jenneke’s engagement will likely come as a big shock to many of her fans after she and Beck – a 400-metre runner who was selected for the Tokyo Olympics and has three national titles to his name – kept their romance under wraps online.
A look at both of their Instagram pages reveals they had not posted any pictures showing them together until Sunday’s announcement, but often liked each other’s posts and followed each other on the platform.
Michelle Jenneke has revealed she’s engaged to fellow Aussie athletics star Alex Beck (pictured together) in news that will shock many of her fans
Jenneke and Beck made the happy news public in Instagram posts on Sunday (pictured)
The couple appear to have kept their romance a closely guarded secret, with neither posting photos of them together up until their engagement announcement, despite Jenneke writing that the happy occasion was ‘8.5 years in the making’
Jenneke is known for being very private when it comes to her love life, and it’s unclear when the couple first met or became an item, although they both spent time coaching at the Somerset Athletics Clinic in 2018.
Jenneke’s startling news comes after she was left reeling by the death of her mother Nicky in May this year.
The 32-year-old hurdler announced the sad news in an emotional Instagram post, but did not reveal the cause of death.
‘Last week we said farewell to my wacky and wonderful mother,’ she wrote.
‘Always the life of the party, she taught me how to bring fun to every occasion and live life to its fullest.
‘Forever my biggest supporter, the loudest person at the track and a warm and generous friend to all those around her.
‘Thank you for all the memories, we will love and miss you always.’
Jenneke ruptured her hamstring tendon during her spectacular exit from the Paris Olympics last year, astonishing fans as she returned for one last heat despite the serious injury.
Jenneke rose to fame partly because of her pre-race warm-up dance, which she’s pictured performing at the Paris Olympics
Beck is a 400-metre runner with three national titles to his name
There were doubts about whether she could come back from the huge setback, but she put those to bed in January, when she announced she will make a comeback and posted a video showing her getting back into training.
‘After rupturing my hamstring in Paris I set myself an ambitious goal to be back over hurdles before the end of year… Very happy to report I achieved that goal just in time on the 30th of December!’ she told her followers.
The Aussie – who became a worldwide sensation for her dance moves behind the starting blocks while competing at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona back in 2012 – managed to go out on a high of sorts in France despite her injury.
She won plenty of admirers at the Stade de France when she was seen comforting Slovakia’s Viktoria Forster after the repechage round as both athletes failed to progress.
