MICHAEL MCKILLOP

Paralympian gold medallist and GSF (GLL Sport Foundation) ambassador Dr Michael McKillop (29), from Glengormley, has just married Nicole (27). He says:

Itry to be romantic. I think every man tries. I think everyone has a romantic side inside them, but it’s how you express that and get it across to the person that you love.

For me, I’m recently married and it’s my wife.

We’ve been together for five years and we got married three months ago.

It’s nice that it’s something fresh, that instead of having a fiancee of two years, it will be nice to celebrate Valentine’s Day as a married couple for the first time.

We met online — as an athlete, I don’t get to go out and socialise round Belfast much.

My fiancee is from Randalstown,

where we live now, but she was living in Dublin five years ago. We matched online, started dating, and it built from there. If it wasn’t for online dating, I would never have met my wife.

It’s incredible to think of her living in Dublin and us coming together and becoming one. Five years ago, we had our first date on February 15. We always leave Valentine’s Day out because our own Valentine’s was the first date the following day.

I think Nicole appreciates it more across the whole year — she wants me to show what she means to me all year round. It’s not about one day — it’s about every day and the rest of your life.

It’s nice to know that on every February 14 you get to express how you feel. But I know I can express how I feel every day for the rest of my life now that we are a married couple.”