Let us state the obvious: It is Fun to cheer on Tara Davis-Woodhall. And not just because she wins just about everything (ahem, just look at the new Olympic gold medal she’s wearing around her neck!). Tara just radiates joy and has a way of making everyone else feel what she’s feeling. When she jumped into her husband Hunter’s arms after her qualifying jump got her on the Olympic track and field team, America cried with her. When she realized she’d just won the gold medal after her 7.10-meter jump at the 2024 Paris Olympics, we wanted to make sand angels with her.

This 25-year-old long jumper is magnetic, a quality that obviously caught the attention of her husband, a double-amputate sprinter and three-time Paralympic medalist. Hunter Woodhallwhen they met during high school competitions at the Simplot Games in Pocatello, Idaho. The couple hit it off immediately, and the rest of their story is literally gold. They competed together in Tokyo in 2021, got married in 2022 (their two dogs wore the rings!), and are now winning medals together again.

We caught up with Tara at the 2024 Paris Olympics to hear her secrets to staying so cheerful… and to find out what the Olympic Village was *really* like.

Tara is a professional in Paris, but at the Olympic Games things are completely different.

“This is my sixth stay in Paris. I am basically a resident now. (laughs) It’s so much different. There are a lot more people here, that’s for sure. It’s just cool to see ‘Paris 2024’ everywhere. It’s crazy that it’s here now, and I’ve been thinking about this moment for three years, so it feels really good to be here in Paris.”

For Tara, her mental health is her top priority.

“My doctor is here and he has helped me with my mental health issues for the past four or five years. I also love journaling, just writing down my experiences, writing down what I saw throughout the day and taking in every moment,” she said Cosmopolitan.

“I have the feeling that many of us are not comfortable where we are. We always say we can’t wait for the future, but when we actually In In the moment we pray for, we lose ourselves. I take it all in and realize that I will never experience and enjoy this moment again.”

Tara’s opinion on the Olympic Village? To be honest, not great!

“I was in the Village for a week and when Hunter got here, I immediately packed my bags and got out of there. Unfortunately, the Village is not that great. Hopefully LA can learn from everyone’s TikToks and everyone’s experiences of what’s actually happening. I understand the environmental situation – because so many people are staying here in such a short period of time – but we’re also the best athletes in the world, so I think we should be treated like the best athletes in the world,” she said.

“I had a better time in my freshman year dorm. Sorry, guys! Sorry, Paris 2024, but that’s not acceptable. The food was amazing, though. Team USA thought of everything. They got us good food, they got us mattress pads, they made sure we had air conditioning in the village. They made our experience infinitely better, but once we leave our little Team USA accommodations, we enter the true 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. “It’s easy in that respect.”

For more information about Tara and Hunter’s love story, see:

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