No prom for Gracie Gold, no hard feelings from her would-be date

A Malibu High School student made national headlines in February when he worked up the courage to ask U.S. Olympic skater Gracie Gold to his prom via video. Amazingly, she accepted!

Now, the not-so-good news: she's backed out. But no hard feelings, insists Dyer Pettijohn, her would-have-been date, keeping all options open.

Back in February, Pettijohn made the following video trying to catch Gold's attention as she returned from Sochi:

Gold's initial response on Twitter was encouraging:

A few days later, the producers of "Extra" surprised Gold with a walk-on visit from Pettijohn, who brought flowers and reiterated his proposal for a prom date.

“If it works out, I would love to,” Gold replied, and Olympic romantics across the country smiled.

Alas, it's not going to work out. Gold is still participating in "Stars on Ice" and will be unavailable for the prom. Pettijohn took it all extremely well, as you have to do when your date's a world-famous athlete:

"She was incredibly gracious and gave me tickets to see her show last Saturday in Anaheim," Pettijohn told  Yahoo Sports. "I talked to her after, and we're still trying to meet up once her busy schedule permits."

Pettijohn is too polite to say it, so we will: Gracie, how can you turn your back on this kind of artistry, huh? All this could be yours:

"It was amazing getting a view of the Olympic lifestyle," Pettijohn said. "It's truly brilliant how they are able to balance their rigor of training with entertaining their fans and family. This experience has been absolutely amazing and hopefully my relationship with Ms. Gold will continue for years to come."

Yes, indeed, we're saying there's a chance.

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Jay Busbee

is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter.

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