SAINT-DENIS, France — Long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall considered retiring after battling depression and issues with her appearance. In her words, she had “been through hell.”
But on the other side of it all was the moment she experienced on Thursday night at the Stade de France, collapsing backwards into the sand and knowing she was finally, and forever, an Olympic champion.
Davis-Woodhall won the gold medal for the 2024 Paris Olympics on Thursday by leaping 7.1 meters (more than 23 feet) over the same sandbox, setting a new best that no one else could match, including reigning Olympic gold medalist Malaika Mihambo of Germany, on her fourth attempt of the night.
It was a moment of redemption for the 25-year-old after finishing a disappointing second at last year’s world championships, and an emotional one given all she’s been through.
“This year I just tried so hard to stay positive and motivated,” she said. “And that motivation became reality, and reality became reality. And the reality is, I’m an Olympic gold medalist.”
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Joining her on the podium was fellow American Jasmine Moore, who came in third, while Mihambo won the silver medal.
Thursday’s gold medal was a crowning achievement for one of track and field’s most charismatic stars, who is known to wear a cowboy hat at competitions and is expected to break out in a slow clap with the crowd before every jump.
Few athletes in sports can match Davis-Woodhall’s visible energy and passion, and even fewer can match her social media following: She has more than 1 million followers across Instagram and TikTok combined, and she also runs a YouTube channel with her husband, U.S. Paralympian Hunter Woodhall.
But beyond the contagious smiles fans see at the stadium, Davis-Woodhall has also been open about her own struggles with mental health and depression. In November 2020, while competing at the University of Texas, she said she hit a low point, confining herself to her room for nearly a week and struggling to get out of bed.
“Mentally, I was in a dark place,” Davis-Woodhall said at a media roundtable in New York earlier this year. “I just knew I didn’t want to be here anymore.”
Her depression made her question everything, including whether she wanted to quit the sport that was once her lifelong passion.
After transferring to Texas from Georgia, Davis-Woodhall said she struggled with the widespread effects of COVID-19 and a broken spine, and at first struggled to relate to her new teammates and the city of Austin felt foreign to her.
Davis-Woodhall said she pulled herself out of her depression by getting out of bed and giving herself an arbitrary deadline: Dec. 7, 2020, to decide whether to continue or quit. “I actually made a list of the pros and cons of why I should quit and why I should continue,” she recalled.
Eventually, Davis Woodhall realized she had a choice. Since she started competing at age 4 and with her father as her primary coach, the idea of not competing in track and field was never an option. Now the choice to get out of bed every day and have a joyful attitude was an option.
“I think that’s when I realized, ‘OK, this is my choice,'” Davis-Woodhall said. “I can either stay in bed all day feeling sad, or I can go out and enjoy life. You only live once.”
Since then, she’s racked up career-best results and more challenges. In 2021, she set a collegiate record in Texas, placed second at the U.S. Olympic Trials and finished sixth at the Tokyo Olympics. Then, in 2023, she tested positive for THC, the main psychoactive compound in marijuana, and was stripped of her national indoor championship title as a result. Then she finished a disappointing second at the world championships.
But the start of a new year has brought about changes. Davis-Woodhall said he’s taken every aspect of his career to the “next level,” from his training and recovery to his sleep and diet. He also said this spring he’s embraced the muscular arms and shoulders that he’d hidden under a hoodie in high school and is now more satisfied with his physique.
“It was really hard not being myself for a while. Not being free is the worst,” she said. “Now that I’m free, I’m never going back.”
Davis-Woodhall, who was recently hired as an assistant coach at Kansas State University, is one of several Team USA athletes who have spoken openly and frequently about the importance of mental health, even thanking their therapists in celebratory news conferences. Another such athlete is star gymnast Simone Biles, who appeared at the Stade de France on Thursday night.
For Davis-Woodhall, it all comes down to the notion of choice. She has the word “Sacrifice” tattooed on her torso, and she’s familiar with what it means. But she chose it, especially over the past four years. And that tattoo got her to Thursday night, when she leapt across the sandpit and along the railing at the end of the front row seats into her husband’s arms, beaming.
She later acknowledged that this was one of the things on her pros and cons list for 2020: the chance to win gold. It was a reason to keep going. And on Thursday, she couldn’t have been happier to have won it.
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on social media @Tom_Schad.
