Husband throws welcome home surprise for Olympic gold medal-winning wife
When Olympian Tara Davis-Woodhall returned home to the United States after the 2024 Paris Games, she got a surprise welcome home party worthy of the gold medalist she is.
The party was organized by her husband, Hunter Woodhall, who will soon be returning to Paris himself to compete in the 2024 Paralympic Games.
Woodhall, a Paralympic sprinter, shared a video on TikTok Tuesday showing himself gathering red, white and blue balloons and American flag balloons for the surprise.
"I made it home and we're going to throw a surprise party for Tara," Woodhall says in the video.
The video then shows Davis-Woodhall, who won a gold medal in the women's long jump, arriving at the airport in Arkansas and dancing with her medal, which she has nicknamed Philippe.
"The gold medal has made it home. You're in Arkansas, Philippe," Davis-Woodhall says in the video, while holding her medal.
As she is driven to her favorite local pizzeria in Springdale, Davis-Woodhall reacts with shock as she sees the huge crowd gathered to welcome her home.
"Whoa," Davis-Woodhall says in the video, before breaking down in tears amid sounds of cheering and honking horns.
Woodhall and Davis-Woodhall, who wed in 2022, went viral at the Paris Olympics thanks to their emotional celebration of Davis-Woodhall's win, her first Olympic medal.
The couple, who also both competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, met at a a track meet when they were both seniors in high school.
Davis-Woodhall went onto join the track and field team at the University of Georgia and then transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, where she finished her college career in 2021.
Woodhall competed in track at the University of Arkansas, where he made history as the first double-amputee to get a Division I track and field scholarship.
Born with fibular hemimelia, in which the fibula, a bone in his lower legs, never formed, Woodhall had both legs amputated below the knee at 11 months old.
He is scheduled to compete in multiple track races when the Paralympics kick off in Paris on Aug. 28.
