Olympic viewers are interested in Tara Davis' husband, Hunter Woodhall, after learning he will compete in the Paralympics after the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Tara Davis Woodhall won the gold medal for Team USA in the long jump on Thursday, August 8, and a visibly emotional Hunter celebrated as he hugged his wife in the stands. But not many people know who he is. Here are some more details about Hunter Woodhall, his disability, and what happened to him early in life.
Tara Davis-Woodhall & Hunter Woodhall BEAM on Viral Hug at Paris Olympics
Hunter Woodhall is a Team USA sprinter who has won multiple medals at previous Olympic Games. He had both 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 with fibular hemimelia either have a short or missing fibula. As Hunter explains in an interview with Travel & Leisure magazine in February 2024, he was born with the condition as a congenital birth defect. Although he had feet, the fibula was missing in both legs, his ankle was fused to his right leg, and he only had nine toes.
Specialists attempted corrective measures, but when they didn't work, his parents went to Shriners Hospital for Children, which suggested amputation as an option. Six months after the surgery, Hunter learned to walk with prosthetics. During his childhood, he recalls a trip to Vancouver, where he attended the 2010 Winter Paralympics, where "his parents wanted to show him what was possible."
