James Magnussen, a former Australian swimming star and Olympic medallist, is celebrating a different type of victory following the Paris Games, having recently gotten engaged to longtime partner Rose McEvoy (no relation to swimmer Cam).
Magnussen popped the question to McEvoy after 10 years together, proposing on a waterside dock while on vacation in Croatia with a handful of friends and family around to capture the moment.
Magnussen and McEvoy both shared a video of the sweet moment to their social media accounts.
The couple’s relationship first became public back in 2014, when Magnussen was a 23-year-old world champion swimmer and McEvoy was a 21-year-old law student and part-time model. They are believed to have met through mutual swimming acquaintances as well as McEvoy’s father, who was a physiotherapist.
Magnussen burst onto the international swimming scene in 2011 when he won the 100-meter freestyle at the World Championships in Shanghai at just 20-years-old; his achievement made him the first Australian male swimmer to ever become the world champion in that event.
A sprinting powerhouse, Magnussen was dubbed “the Missile” by the swimming community. Over the course of his swimming career, he became a two-time world champion in the 100 free and earned an Olympic silver medal in the same event, as well as two Olympic bronze medals for relays.
Magnussen retired from competitive swimming in 2019 and became the co-founder of both Habitual Equipment and The Swim Squad in addition to working in the media.
Magnussen has since turned his attention to the Enhanced Games, an Olympic-style event with no drug testing that would allow athletes to participate in doping. The event is supposed to take place in 2025, and Magnussen has said he will come out of retirement to participate in the hopes of winning prize money.
He and partner McEvoy were in Paris throughout the Olympic Games for his “Matty and the Missile in Paris” coverage, a special series on The Matty Johns Podcast which features former Australian rugby player Matty Johns.
For her part, McEvoy, who is a former Miss Universe Australia contestant, has worked as a taxation lawyer, actress and model.
The couple have been continuing to soak up their vacation time around Europe.
