Get to Know Tara Davis-Woodhall, America’s Cowboy-Hat-Wearing Sweetheart
Gold medal? Check. Adorable romance? Check. Some tea on the Olympic Village? Check, check, check. BY KRISTY ALPERT
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Let’s state the obvious: It is fun to root for Tara Davis-Woodhall. And not just because she wins at pretty much everything (um, check out that fresh Olympic gold medal around her neck!). Tara simply radiates joy and has a way of letting everyone else feel what she’s feeling. When she jumped into her husband Hunter’s arms after her qualifying jump landed her on the Olympic track & field team, America cried alongside her. When she realized she just won the gold medal after her 7.10-meter jump at the Paris 2024 Olympics, we wanted to do sand angels right alongside her.
This 25-year-old long jumper is magnetic, which is a quality that obviously caught the eye of her husband, double-amputee sprinter and three-time Paralympic medalist Hunter Woodhall, back when they met while competing in high school at the Simplot Games in Pocatello, Idaho. The couple meshed immediately, and the rest of their story is literally gold. They competed together in Tokyo in 2021, got married in 2022 (their two dogs were their ring bearers!), and are now back winning medals together.
We caught up with Tara at the 2024 Paris Olympics to hear her secrets on staying so joyful… and find out what the Olympic Village was *really* like.
Tara is a pro at Paris, but the Olympics are a different animal.
“This is my 6th time in Paris. I’m basically a resident at this point. [laughs] It’s so much different. There’s a lot more people, that’s for sure. Just seeing ‘Paris 2024’ everywhere is just really cool. It’s wild that it’s here now and I’ve been thinking about this moment for three years, so to be here in Paris, feels really good.”
Tara is prioritizing her mental health through it all.
“My doctor is here, and he’s been helping with my mental for the past four or five years. I love journaling as well, just journaling my experiences, journaling what I’ve seen throughout the day and taking every moment in,” she told Cosmopolitan.
“I feel like a lot of us get lost where we are. We always say we can’t wait for the future, but when we’re actually in the moment that we pray for, we get lost. I take it all in and realize that I’m never going to get this moment again and enjoy it.”
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Tara’s take on the Olympic Village? Honestly, it’s not great!
“I was in the Village for a week, and as soon as Hunter got here, I packed up a suitcase and I bounced. Unfortunately, the Village is not great. Hopefully, L.A. can learn from everyone’s TikToks and everyone’s experience of what’s actually happening. I understand the eco-friendly situation—because there are so many people staying here in such a short span of time—but also we are the best athletes in the world, so I feel like we should be treated like the best athletes in the world,” she said.
“I had a better time in my freshman year dorms. Sorry, guys! Sorry, Paris 2024, but this is not acceptable. The food has been amazing though. Team USA has accommodated everything. They’ve gotten us the good food, they’ve gotten us mattress toppers, they made sure we got A/C in the Village. They made our experience infinitely better, but once we step out of our little Team USA housing, that’s when we enter the real world of what the Olympic Village has to offer.”
But Tara and Hunter’s love? Rock-solid as always.
“We work really well together, and we’re definitely a team. He’s definitely my partner in life,” she said. “In that way, it’s easy.”