Tara Davis-Woodhall and Hunter Woodhall: The love story that moved the world at Paris 2024

There is a clear candidate for the most touching image from the 2024 Paris Olympics. And it had to happen in the City of Love. As soon as she won gold in the women's long jump, American athlete Tara Davis-Woodhall quickly went to celebrate with her husband, Paralympic athlete Hunter Woodhall, who was in the stands watching the competition.

The snapshot of their embrace went viral in a matter of minutes, proving the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" to be true.

With a mark of 7.10 meters, Davis-Woodhall beat Germany's Malaika Mihambo (silver) and American Jasmine Moore (bronze).

Woodhall will represent the United States at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, which will begin on Aug. 28. The athlete was born with a condition called peroneal hemimelia, which resulted in an amputation of his lower legs. He won the silver medal in the men's 200 meters and bronze in the men's 400 meters at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games and bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.

Five years dating and two married

Woodhall and Davis-Woodhall met during a track and field competition in Idaho in 2017, when they were in high school. They had never met before, and both were attending college in Utah and Texas, respectively. They also attended college in different states, though that wasn't a reason to drift apart and continue their relationship.

Davis-Woodhall makes no secret that she "had a crush" the first time she saw Woodhall. "I stepped onto the track and said, 'I don’t know why I have to do this, but I have to give you a hug,'" she said in an interview. He acknowledged that, after receiving that hug, he thought that she was going to be the woman he would marry in the future.

That intuition came true and, five years after meeting, they got married. Outside the sport, both share a YouTube channel where they talk about their day-to-day lives, training, the trips they take to compete and, in the last few days, Paris 2024.