American long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall finished her final long jump knowing she had captured gold. She stood up, mouth agape with a smile, then fell backward into the sand in celebration.
Davis-Woodhall toppled the reigning Olympic champ, German Malaika Mihambo, with a 7.10-meter jump Thursday to capture her first Olympic gold and her first medal of any kind in the Olympics.
The cowboy hat-wearing long jumper had already had the gold locked up before she made her final jump and could be seen fighting back tears before making her final dash down the runway.
“I’ve dreamed of this moment my entire life, 4 years old when I started track and field,” Davis-Woodhall told Reuters. “I’ve been telling myself all year: ‘8-0-8 [Aug. 8], that’s the day we win the Olympics.’ ”
Mihambo won the silver medal with her jump of 6.98, and American Jasmine Moore took home the bronze with a jump of 6.96 meters.
Davis-Woodhall opened the competition with a Round 1 jump of 6.93 and quickly powered out of the gate in Round 2, when she crossed the 7-meter mark with a 7.05.
It was in the fourth round that she made her gold medal-winning jump of 7.10.
Davis-Woodhall had entered the Paris Games as a favorite to take home a medal and was coming off a gold-medal performance at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in March.
She finished sixth in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which also marked her debut in the Summer Games.
Davis-Woodhall has been a social media sensation and entertained a packed Stade de France crowd with every jump.
On her fourth jump, she encouraged the fans to start clapping before she sprinted down the runway and ran over to her husband— Paralympian Hunter Woodhall — to celebrate after winning the gold.
Davis-Woodhall, a Texas native, donned the signature cowboy hat that has become synonymous with the long jumper as she continued the celebration with her Team USA compatriots.
The cowboy hat has long been a way for Davis-Woodhall to honor her Texas background and has been a fixture at many of the meets she competes in.