Gold Medal Couple Tara Davis-Woodhall and Hunter Woodhall Talk Marriage, Motivation, and Their Next Chapter With Nike

If you’ve spent even a minute scrolling through Olympic highlights, you know who these two are. Two-time Olympian Tara Davis-Woodhall first leapt into global sport consciousness as the silver medalist in the women’s long jump at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She then soared even higher—or maybe more accurately, further—by clinching gold at the 2024 games in Paris. Just weeks later, her husband and three-time Paralympian Hunter Woodhall—who was born with fibular hemimelia and had his lower legs amputated as an infant—won his first gold (and fifth Paralympic medal) in a thrilling men’s 400-meter T62 race.  

What you probably remember most about them—and this is not to take away from their athletic achievements at all—is the pure, crazy-in-love joy and support that each one had for the other during their gold-medal wins. Their each other's biggest fans, and their excitement is infectious. On and off the track, these two have parlayed their athletic excellence (and rom com-level love story) into collective cultural cachet; sharing behind-the-scenes glimpses of training and life with their nearly three million followers, and signing major brand deals like the one that was just announced: joining Nike’s decorated track and field roster.

We caught up with the golden couple to hear more about life after the Olympics and Paralympics, their big move to Nike, and how they’re tackling it all—together. 

Well+Good: Let’s start with the big news: you’ve signed with Nike! Can you talk a little about what this means to you and what you’re looking most forward to with your new partnership with them? 

Tara Davis-Woodhall: Signing with Nike is probably any athlete's major dream. It's definitely one of ours. And now that has come into fruition…and it's insane. I know Nike is going to help us become the best athletes possible and support us along our way through LA2028. 

Hunter Woodhall: Yeah, to echo what Tara said, this has been a childhood dream of mine forever. I remember having a few Nike t-shirts and I would wear them like every single day. And then I read the book Shoe Dog, and it's like Phil Knight was an athlete and a coach…just the history and the heritage—it's so ingrained in what we do in track and field. And meeting with the team, they had the same passion and excitement for what we want to do in LA2028, and the athletes and people that we want to become. So it just made perfect sense.

W+G: Hunter, as an advocate for adaptive athletes, I’m curious if you’ve had any discussions or thoughts about how you might be able to work with the Nike R&D team to better support Paralympic and disabled athletes? 

Hunter: Yeah, I mean, I don't know how much I can say, but I will say that the very first meeting that we had in Beaverton at Nike headquarters was with the Nike innovation team. It was with the people who, even before we were on the team, have been working on innovations for Parasport and for those who are looking for adaptations to do what they want easier. They came with so many great questions, and their real purpose was like, ‘How do we make this easier for you and others dealing with similar situations to be more involved in sport?’ It was the very first thing that they brought to our attention; and even since then, I've had three meetings with the innovation team, they've met with my prosthetist. They really are so intentional about what they're doing, and they really want to get down to the answers of how we make the sport more inclusive for everybody.

W+G: You guys get a lot of “power couple” and “hashtag goals” comments. What do you think it is about your relationship that people are so drawn to?

Tara: I think we're just normal humans at the end of the day. We're so diverse as a couple, and so we're able to relate in ways that most athletes might not be able to. As an African American woman, and then as a man who has two prosthetic legs, and then us as a couple in a sport—it's almost insane that it's happening. I think people are just attracted to the genuineness that we carry; and we've always been like this. We've always wanted to show the real sides of life. I like to share about my mental health, and how I've struggled with that. And Hunter being able to show the world his prosthetic legs and how he's overcome all of these adversities throughout his life…I think that's what's the most attractive about our story. 

Hunter: Yeah, I think we've done a really good job of just humanizing ourselves as athletes. I think it's easy to look at athletes on a really high level and just imagine what you think their life is like. We really try to show the real of everything, whether it's good or bad or in between. We really just want to give a transparent look into what we're doing, and I think when people are able to follow that for so many years—you know, we've been doing this for almost a decade—and then you get a moment at the Olympics [like we did]...I think people are able to feel the emotion that we feel because they've seen the work we’ve put in. Which is what we want to do. We want to grow the sport—to get people excited about it, and honestly, give some people someone to root for.

W+G: Not a lot of spouses “work together” but you guys share a coach, sponsors, and you train together. Is there anything you have found particularly helpful in balancing the dynamic of teammate and business partner versus spouse? 

Hunter: It's a lot of accountability for each other. We know that absolutely there's going to be good days and bad days on the track and in life. And I think we do a great job at communicating and talking through those things. But to give flowers to the people around us: We have the most incredible team of people. Our coach, Travis, is so empathetic; he's filled with joy and love for this sport. So every day when we get to practice, even if we're having a bad day, he always turns it around and reminds us what the purpose is of what we're doing. And then from the business that we have, and working as professional athletes, it works out great because we never have to make a decision on our own. We do work with the same companies, and it makes it much easier for us to align our morals and our values and what we want—and then we can make that decision together. So it really just adds a lot of layers of accountability, and honestly, a bit of a vote of confidence because then you can both be on the same page. There are challenges but there's no world in which I could do this without her. 

Tara: We also just know each other's goals and we know what each other wants in this life and what we want out of it. I think that makes it, I would say, a bit easier to understand each other. And we're training every day together, so we know how one person is feeling, and we know where we stand with our tiredness level or where we are in the world, mentally and physically; so it's easier than if he had to go train with a different coach and I had to go train with a different coach and we can't see each other's training cycles. And since we do train together every single day, I know what he's working on and he knows what I'm working on. So if we ever go to a track meet by ourselves without our coach, we can be that rock and that person to know what to do next.

W+G: We get to watch you in these huge, thrilling, gold-medal-winning moments…that I can only imagine are intensely stressful. Have you both always been good at handling that pressure, or is there anything you do to help you prepare or manage the emotions in those moments? 

Tara: I think it goes both ways. We always say ‘we have that dog in us.’ I feel like as athletes, you kind of have to let the pressure fuel you instead of get to you. But back in college, when I was doing two events at the same time [hurdles and long jump], the nerves did get to me. I would have panic attacks the night before, and be just freaking out like How do I do this? How can I do it? But then once I get out to the track, it's like, oh, it's no problem. I've been doing this since I was four years old, so I think we've learned our ways. I'm in therapy and spoke to my therapist weekly leading up to the Olympics; I think it's been just trial and error to figure out what works best for us.

Hunter: Yeah, and I think, again, to go back to our team—our coach Travis and our doctor, Dr. Noah—they have done such a good job at giving us all the tools that we need to feel prepared. Especially when we got to the Olympics last year, we knew we were doing all the right things. So when we get to the day where we had to go compete and show out, we didn't have to wonder, like, oh, I wish we would have done this workout or done that thing or skipped that meal. We're confident. Travis always says: “it can be easy, just go out and execute.” He really instills that idea that we've done the work, now it's just time to go enjoy the moment.

W+G: Obviously you both are looking ahead to the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Los Angeles. How do you balance being present while also making sure you’re hitting the benchmarks and points of progress so you can be where you want to be in 2028?

Tara: You know, we used to live for the future, but now we're just living in the moment. We have a saying—these are the moments—and it kind of just grounds us and humbles us; it reminds us, like, we used to wish and pray for being in this exact moment. So trying to look forward to the future kind of hinders our progress of what we've been working on for so long. Every day is different. Every meet is different. So it's like, okay, what's next for us right now? It's Drake Relays. All right, let's just focus on Drake Relays. It's just our opener. Let's go out there and have fun. And then, you know, once it gets to the National Championships, we trust in our coach that he's put us through the right cycles and training. So yeah, I feel like it's trust—and not getting too excited for the future and forgetting where you are.