Paralympic Games: The touching story of Tara and Hunter Woodhall

On August 10, Tara Davis-Woodhall jumped 7.10 meters to win her first Olympic gold medal. The American then jumped into the arms of her husband, Hunter Woodhall, in front of the world's cameras.

The couple have been married since October 16, 2022, according to People, and run a YouTube channel together: Tara and Hunter, which has more than 800,000 subscribers.

What sets Hunter and Tara apart from many athletic couples, is that Hunter is a para-athlete. An amputee at a young age below the knees following a birth defect, competes in the T62 or T64 category – classifications for track and field athletes who compete with or without prosthetics, respectively – depending on the distance.

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Now aged 25, Tara and Hunter met at a university meeting: the 'Simplot Games,' an indoor athletics competition in Idaho, according to Sports Illustrated.

As the Paralympics website recounted: Hunter had just finished his 400 meters when Tara came up to him and said, "I don't know why, but I feel like I have to give you a hug."

After that, they kept in touch, fell in love and, after years of long-distance dating, got married in 2022 and moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Despite his young age, Hunter Woodhall already has a great Paralympic experience. A two-time medalist in the 200 and 400 meters T44 in Rio in 2016 (at 17 years old), he repeated the feat with a bronze medal in the 400 meters T62 in Tokyo. Paris will be his third Games.

Over the years, he's built up his fair share of fans, but nobody is a bigger support than his wife: "I watch all his races. When I can't come, I make sure they're broadcast somewhere and we send each other messages. In the stadium, I like to sit near the track. I shout very loudly so he can hear me," French news outlet L'Équipe reported.

Since 2022, the couple has been training together, with the same coach: "The support we give each other is at least as important in our careers as the training," Hunter said, as reported by the outlet.

After Tara's Olympic title, it's Hunter's turn to aim for a Paralympic medal in Paris 2024. And in the audience, there's no doubt, there will be an Olympic long jump champion cheering him on.

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