‘So freaking weird’ - Tara Davis-Woodhall on why she never leaves her Olympics gold medal behind

‘So freaking weird’ - Tara Davis-Woodhall on why she never leaves her Olympics gold medal behind

Joel Omotto 18:32 - 09.11.2024

American long jump sensation Tara Davis-Woodhall has opened up on why she carries her Olympics gold medal wherever she goes since her triumph at the Paris 2024 Games in August.

Olympics long jump champion Tara Davis-Woodhall has admitted that she still feels weird being recognized as an Olympics gold medalist, a title that makes her carry her medal everywhere.

Davis-Woodhall became the fourth American to win Olympics gold in long jump when her leap of 7.10m saw her crowned the finest in her sport in Paris, ending a period of disappointment that had preceded her victory.

The 25-year-old had a poor Olympics outing in at the delayed 2020 Games in Tokyo when she ended up sixth, having won the US trials, before winning the national long jump title at the US Indoor Track and Field Championships in February 2023 only for her crown to be stripped of following a positive urine sample for cannabis, which went beyond the required limit.

She would claim silver at the 2023 World Championships, laying the ground for a successful 2024 season that started with gold at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow in March before her Olympics heroics in August.

The victory, achieved after the trials and tribulations of the previous years, have left Davis-Woodhall in disbelief, months after the Games, and she is still struggling to adjust to her status as an Olympics champion.

“It’s just still so freaking weird,” Davis-Woodhall told People Magazine in a recent interview.

“It’s still so crazy to see a picture of me with a gold medal around my neck, or going to events and them saying Tara Woodhall, the Olympic gold champion.”

So thrilled is she with her Olympics medal that she carries it everywhere she goes, perhaps to remind her of the scale of her achievements in Paris.

“Yeah, it goes everywhere with me. I’m sure it will have a home, a dedicated home in our office or something, but right now she just lives in my purse,” added Davis-Woodhall, who celebrated her Olympics triumph with a kiss and hug from husband Hunter Woodhall, the Paralympics champion.

The couple recently moved to Kansas City after their long-time coach Travis Geopfert relocated to take up a role as the Track and Field Cross-Country coach at the Kansas University with Tara also joining the institution as an assistant coach.

Heading into 2025, Davis-Woodhall knows the spotlight and pressure will be on her and she will be using the Olympics success as fuel to drive her to a first world title at next year’s World Championships in Tokyo, Japan.