When Olympian Tara Davis-Woodhall returned to the United States after the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, she was treated to a surprise welcoming party worthy of the gold medalist that she is.
The party was organized by her husband Hunter Woodhall, who will soon return to Paris to compete in the 2024 Paralympic Games.
Woodhall, a Paralympic sprinter, shared a video on TikTok on Tuesday showing him collecting red, white and blue balloons, as well as balloons with the American flag, for the surprise.
“I made it home and we’re going to have a surprise party for Tara,” Woodhall says in the video.
Tara Davis-Woodhall was welcomed home from the Paris Olympics with a surprise party organized by her husband, Paralympian Hunter Woodhall.
@hunterwoodhall/TikTok
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 calls Philippe.
“The gold medal has come home. You are in Arkansas, Philippe,” Davis-Woodhall says in the video while holding her medal.
Tara Davis-Woodhall was welcomed home from the Paris Olympics with a surprise party organized by her husband, Paralympian Hunter Woodhall.
@hunterwoodhall/TikTok
On her way to her favorite pizzeria in Springdale, Davis-Woodhall is shocked to see the huge crowd gathered to welcome her home.
“Whoa,” Davis-Woodhall says in the video before bursting into tears amid cheers and honking.
Tara Davis-Woodhall was welcomed home from the Paris Olympics with a surprise party organized by her husband, Paralympian Hunter Woodhall.
@hunterwoodhall/TikTok
Woodhall and Davis-Woodhall, who are marrying in 2022, made headlines at the Paris Olympics for their emotional celebration of Davis-Woodhall’s victory, her first Olympic medal.
The couple, who also competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, met at a track and field competition when they were both seniors in high school.
Tara Davis-Woodhall of Team USA celebrates winning the gold medal after competing in the women’s long jump final on the thirteenth day of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Stade de France in Paris on August 8, 2024.
Patrick Smith/Getty Images
Davis-Woodhall then joined the University of Georgia track and field team and then transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, where she finished her college career in 2021.
Woodhall competed in track and field at the University of Arkansas, where he made history as the first double amputee to receive a Division I scholarship to compete in track and field.
Woodhall was born with fibular hemimelia, in which the fibula, a bone in his lower legs, never developed, and at the age of 11 months both legs had to be amputated below the knee.
He is scheduled to compete in several track races when the Paralympics begin in Paris on August 28.
