With a family and coaching team guarding her physical and mental health, Tara Davis-Woodhall is aiming for Olympic gold.
WYLIE, Texas — Wylie native Tara Davis-Woodhall takes to the infield of Stade de France in Paris on August 6th, a gold medal contender in the women’s long jump. And as she soars, a very proud family will offer the loudest cheers in the crowd in support of both her athletic and mental health success.
That’s why her mom Rayshon Davis is packing one very large red suitcase: a sequined red, white, and blue jacket neatly folded on top with the words “Proud American” on the back.
“And I’ve got my boots,” she said of the cowboy boots that will complete her Texan “fit” for the trip. “This suitcase has traveled a lot of miles and it is now going to Paris.”
Her daughter Tara Davis-Woodhall is already a household name in track and field. As a high school senior in Agoura Hills, California she achieved what very few other athletes have done. In her senior year, she finished as the state champion in the long jump, the triple jump, and the 100-meter hurdles. She would become a University of Texas at Austin phenom, the 2024 World Indoor Long Jump Champion, and this year she finished first at the Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon and is in Paris now getting ready for the second Olympic appearance.
“I get the opportunity to just boast and brag and I do,” Rayshon Davis said.
But this proud, bragging mom doesn’t just want to talk about the phenomenal success of her youngest child. She wants us to understand the struggles too.
Tara’s social media shows the sometimes glamorous globe-trotting life she leads with her Paralympian husband Hunter Woodhall. They train together at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
“I love them both. I’ve been so blessed to have a son-in-law that is so dynamic who can support Tara in her adventure and her journey in life,” Davis said.
But even the life of a track and field sensation has its ups and downs. Her original scholarship offer to the University of Georgia wasn’t a good fit. When she transferred to UT in Austin she wasn’t immediately allowed to compete. Then the COVID pandemic shut the world down.
“She wears her emotions on her sleeve. She cares,” her mom said. Tara admitted in previous interviews that suicidal thoughts crept in.
“So somebody who’s used to being on a stage, used to working out, used to being praised, used to getting those accolades. That wasn’t happening. And it was a sad thing for her,” her mom said. “She’s concerned about her mental health. And when she doesn’t feel good, nothing is good.”
So just as Simon Biles’ mental health struggles opened eyes, this proud mom wants Tara’s journey to be understood too. Her coaching team includes specialists who guard her mental health as well.
“These are real people. These are real women,” Rayshon Davis said. “They have all of these things and they can’t judge when their cycles come. But when they do, that’s a whole other set of pressure that may or not play a role in their performance.”
In the social media channels she and her husband share, Tara openly talked about her struggles during the Olympic Trials in Eugene where she narrowly qualified after scratching twice. She admits she suffers painful menstrual cycles, which unfortunately timed perfectly with the biggest track and field competition in her life up to that point.
“That’s what you saw,” she said on the Tara and Hunter YouTube channel. “The pain makes me throw up. The pain makes me just literally crumble.”
Still, she won the gold at the Olympic Trials to get her to her second Olympics.
And in Wylie, at the home where she lived until she was about 11 years old, Tara’s mom keeps a house full of medals and trophies and posters and other mementos of her daughter’s track and field career. And with the help of a team of coaches who help guide Tara through the physical and mental challenges of her career, they are eyeing the addition of Olympic gold.
“And then her final goal is hey, let’s get on that podium and we’re gonna get on that podium and we’re coming home with the gold,” Rayshon Davis said. “We’re coming home with the gold!”
“They’re not going to the Olympics to participate. They’re going to win.”
The women’s long jump qualifications begin on August 6th with the finals on August 8th.