Brazilian women's rugby player Isadora Cerullo melted hearts when she accepted a marriage proposal from her girlfriend at the medals ceremony for the first Olympic rugby sevens competition on Monday.

Television cameras and photographers captured the moment that Marjorie Enya, a manager at the Deodoro stadium in Rio where the competition was played, took the microphone to pop the question to her girlfriend of two years on the pitch.

A tearful Cerullo accepted and, with no ring, 28-year-old Enya tied a ribbon to her finger.

Cerullo, 25, was a member of the Brazilian squad that narrowly missed out on reaching the knockout rounds of the competition which was won by Australia. Many of the defeated players, however, watched the medals ceremony taking place.

The proposal came after complaints by some female soccer players of homophobic chanting during matches.

The International Olympic Committee has said the organization would not tolerate any discrimination on the grounds of sexuality.

A record number of publicly out LGBT athletes are competing at this year's Olympics. An estimate by Outsports magazine says 44 are taking part, almost double the number at London in 2012.