Olympics viewers are interested in Tara Davis‘ husband, Hunter Woodhall, after learning that he will be competing at the Paralympics after the 2024 Paris Olympics. Tara Davis Woodhall won Team USA the gold medal for the long jump on Thursday, August 8, and celebrated with a visibly emotional Hunter, who hugged his wife in the stands. But not many may know about who he is. Here are more details about Hunter Woodhall, his disability, and what happened to him early in his life.
Who is Tara Davis Woodhall’s husband, Hunter?
Hunter Woodhall is a Team USA sprinter who won several medals during past Olympic Games. He had both his legs amputated due to fibular hemimelia when he was 11 months old.
The fibula is the calf bone on the lateral side of the tibia, and those who have fibular hemimelia have either a short or missing fibula. As Hunter explains in a February 2024 interview with Travel & Leisure magazine, he was born with the condition as a congenital birth defect. While he had his feet, the fibula was missing in both his legs, his ankle was fused to his right leg, and he only had nine toes.
Specialists tried to make corrective measures, but since they weren’t working, his parents went to Shriners Hospital for Children, which suggested amputation as an option. Six months after the operation, Hunter learned how to walk with prosthetics. During his childhood, he remembers a trip to Vancouver where he attended the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games, where “his parents wanted to show [him] what’s possible.”
This experience led him to compete in 2015 for the United States National Paralympic Team in international competitions. This led him to a silver and bronze medals at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships, and then more medals at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Between that time, Hunter and Tara met in 2017 during a track meet in Idaho, according to a post the couple made in 2018 on YouTube. They found each other attractive from the start, and the pair eventually got married on October 16, 2022. Hunter Woodhall will compete later for the 2024 Paralympic Games between August 28 and September 8.
