Olympic power couple celebrates wife's gold medal win
Tara Davis-Woodhall and Hunter Woodhall are a track and field power couple, and now they are celebrating an Olympic gold medal win.
Davis-Woodhall won gold Thursday in the women's long jump at the Paris Olympics, a comeback from her sixth place finish at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Photos of Davis-Woodhall and Woodhall -- who will compete later this month in the Paralympic Games -- celebrating her win quickly went viral.
"THESE ARE THE MOMENTS," Team USA posted on Instagram alongside a photo of Davis-Woodhall hugging Woodhall in the stands at the Stade de France.
Woodhall paid tribute to his wife Friday on Instagram, captioning a photo of the couple in front of the Eiffel Tower, "No words to describe how proud of you I am. No luck involved, you earned this. Discipline, work ethic, and grit. These are the moments and this is your moment. Soak it in ."
The Paris Olympics mark the second Olympics together for the couple, who wed in 2022.
Woodhall and Davis-Woodhall's love story began, appropriately enough, at a track meet when they were both seniors in high school, Davis in California and Woodhall in Utah.
"I was warming up and I spotted Hunter and I was like, 'Oh, that guy is cute,'" Davis-Woodhall previously told "Good Morning America" of their 2017 meeting at a track meet in Idaho. "I didn't know who he was, but I went up to him as he was coming off the track after his race and gave him a hug and we started talking."
The two stayed in touch and started dating several months later, but faced the obstacle of a long-distance relationship again when they each pursued their track and field careers in college.
Davis-Woodhall first joined the track and field team at the University of Georgia, and then transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, where she finished her college career in 2021.
Woodhall competed in track at the University of Arkansas, where he made history as the first double-amputee to get a Division I track and field scholarship.
Born with fibular hemimelia, in which the fibula, a bone in his lower legs, never formed, Woodhall had both legs amputated below the knee at 11 months old.
After earning silver and bronze medals at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, Woodhall again won a second bronze medal at the delayed 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo in the men's 400-meter T62 race.
Woodhall is scheduled to compete in multiple track races when the Paralympics kick off in Paris on Aug. 28.
The sprinter told Team USA that he and Davis-Woodhall owe their success, in part, to the support they give each other.
"I definitely don't think either of us would be at the level we're at without the level of support that we provide for each other, as well as the team that surrounds us," Woodhall said. "As far as the success, it's super motivating because we do the same things every day -- it's just a vote of confidence knowing that we're doing the right things together."
