Inside the rise of the sports world’s newest power couple

Paris has long been known as the city of lights and love. But it means something a little different to Hunter Woodhall and Tara Davis-Woodhall.

For the sports world’s newest power couple, it’s the city of love and gold.

It was in Paris where the Woodhalls made history. It’s where they became the first husband and wife to both win gold at the Olympics and Paralympics in the same Summer Games.

They not only left Paris with their first gold medals, but also with thousands of new fans of their love story.

“It’s kind of crazy. I mean, we went in with the hopes of bringing home (a) gold medal, and we did just that — and a bunch of fans,” Davis-Woodhall told the Deseret News.

The bigger following is more than a way for the Woodhalls to advance their careers (she has 1.1 million Instagram followers, he has 804,000, their joint account has 651,000 and their YouTube has nearly 900,000 subscribers).

It’s also a way to grow the sport they love.

“It was pretty special,” Woodhall said. “We just love this sport so much. We love what we do. We love track and field, and so that was our goals, to go out there, do our best, execute well and hopefully bring more people to watch the sport and see what we love so much.”

Tara Davis-Woodhall and Hunter Woodhall’s viral Olympic moment

The Woodhalls went into this year with a gold medal on their mind . Their summer of gold started when both of them qualified for track and field events at the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics.

Davis-Woodhall competed first as a member of Team USA’s Olympic track and field team. A month before his own Paralympic races, Woodhall was in the stands watching her in the women’s long jump final, proudly wearing not a “Team USA” shirt but a “Team Tara” shirt.

When it came time for her final jump, Davis-Woodhall had already sealed her fate as Olympic champion. No one had surpassed the 7.10 meters she had set in her fourth attempt.

That’s when the camera panned to a clapping and crying Woodhall, who knew his wife was the Olympic champion.

Then the viral moment came.

The newly crowned gold medalist picked herself up out of the sand after her purely ceremonial final jump, ran to her waiting husband and leapt into his arms.

“Babe, you’re the Olympic champion,” he told her.

Woodhall looked more emotional watching and celebrating his wife’s achievement than when his own gold moment came a few weeks later.

In September, the Woodhalls were in the same stadium but their roles were reversed. Davis-Woodhall was in the stands while Woodhall was on the track, racing in the men’s final 400-meter T62.

Woodhall pulled ahead of the defending gold medalist, Johannes Floors of Germany, with roughly 40 meters to go and crossed the finish line first. He then ran straight to the stands to embrace his wife.

How marriage makes the Woodhalls better athletes

As media coverage before and during the Olympics made clear, the Woodhalls are not only partners in marriage, but partners on the track.

When it comes to their athletic careers, they do everything together, Woodhall said. They wake up and train at the same time. They have the same coach. Post-training, they cook and recover together and make sure the other goes to bed on time.

“We’re at the track together, keeping each other accountable and making sure that we get everything in (that) we need,” Woodhall told the Deseret News. “It’s like having the best accountability partner ever right in your corner and then also someone who understands the sacrifice, time and commitment it takes to compete at this level.”

Both Woodhall and Davis-Woodhall agree that their marriage has made them better athletes. Woodhall describes their marriage as “confidence inspiring.”

“I can trust what Tara is telling me when she’s giving me criticisms or helping me get better. I trust that she knows what she’s doing. So that’s really inspiring, knowing that somebody wants to see you get better and understands how to help you get better,” he said.

How the Woodhalls met

Inspiring and motivating each other to push their limits and perform their best comes naturally to the couple, Davis-Woodhall said.

“We know what we want, and we want that for each other — what’s best for each other,” she said.

She believes the couple’s experience dating long-distance for four years has helped with that.

When the couple first met as high schoolers in 2017 at the Simplot Games in Pocatello, Idaho, Woodhall was living in Syracuse, Utah, while Davis-Woodhall lived in Agoura Hills, California. It was at that event where Woodhall told his friend he was going to marry Davis-Woodhall and where Davis-Woodhall made the first move by hugging Woodhall after he won the boys’ 400-meter on his birthday.

The roughly 750 miles between their homes didn’t stop their budding romance. They followed each other on Instagram and Twitter and started talking every day.

But when they graduated, the distance between them increased.

Woodhall went to the University of Arkansas after becoming the first double amputee to earn a NCAA Division I track and field scholarship . Davis-Woodhall went to the University of Georgia — 770 miles away from Woodhall in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The distance decreased a little when Davis-Woodhall transferred to the University of Texas in Austin.

After they graduated in 2021, Davis-Woodhall moved to Arkansas to join Woodhall. They got engaged later that year and were married the following year.

“I think that’s where we learned a lot about support and learning how to be there for each other and whatever that comes with,” she said of their long-distance experience.

How marriage changed their perspective on success

Paris wasn’t the Woodhalls’ first experience at the Olympics and Paralympics. They both competed in Tokyo, and Woodhall competed at the Rio Olympics as a high schooler.

But the Paris games were their first as a married couple.

Marriage has shifted the couple’s perspective on athletics and success. While they set out for gold this summer , the Woodhalls decided that how they viewed their performance in Paris would not be determined by the medal that could be hanging around their neck.

“It’s been really easy to say, ‘I’m gonna link my success to the color of medal I get, or to the result that comes,’ rather than, ‘Hey, let’s show up every day, let’s do our best,’” Woodhall said.

Together, they’ve been able to remove the pressure that comes from focusing solely on results and accolades.

“Then whatever the outcome is, we know we did everything in our power to make it good,” Woodhall said. “I feel like just instilling that confidence in each other that we don’t have to perform any certain way, it doesn’t devalue who we are and what we’re about.”

The Woodhalls will have the chance to repeat their Paris success in four years. Only time will tell what comes for the couple before and after the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, but Woodhall knows one thing with certainty in regards to his career.

“I wouldn’t be doing it without her, that’s for sure,” he said.