MANHATTAN, Kan. (WIBW) – Track and field royalty is now residing in Manhattan, Kansas.
2024 Olympic Long Jump Champion Tara Davis-Woodhall and her husband, 2020 Paralympic Bronze Medalist Hunter Woodhall are the newest members of the Wildcat family.
Both have been coached by new K-State Track & Field Director Travis Geopfert for years, and when Coach Geopfert took the job in Manhattan, he brought Tara on as an assistant coach.
Though he won’t hold an official coaching title, Hunter plans to be around the program a lot as well.
Tara left the Paris Olympic Games with her first Olympic medal, securing the Gold in the Long Jump.
Her winning moment went viral. Once she realized what she did, she fell backwards into the sand, and then ran straight over to her husband in the stands.
The pair told 13 Sports what they were feeling in that exact moment.
“I took a second for myself, and then I got up, and the whole crowd was still cheering for me. And I was like oh my gosh,” Tara said. “I instantly spotted Hunter, and I ran to him, and I gave him the biggest hug, and he gave me the biggest hug, and he yelled that I was the Olympic Champion. And that was the first time that I ever like heard that.”
“Understanding everything that Tara’s been through the past eight years that we’ve been working on this, but really the past two years. Just being so dedicated, so locked in, and just all the decisions and sacrifices she’s made for that exact moment,” Hunter said. “It was just, it was really emotional.”
Hunter will try for his second Paralympic medal at the Paralympic Games in Paris later this month.
The two said they would have followed Coach Geopfert anywhere, and they’re excited to be welcomed into K-State Nation.
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