How Tara Davis-Woodhall Found Body Confidence

Tara Davis-Woodhall is no stranger to intermittent failure. Bye olympic long jumper makes incredible feats (and 23-foot jumps) look easy, it took her years to fully accept her body. Now 26 years old, she still remembers wearing a sweatshirt every day because the boys at school made fun of her muscles. “I feel like it took me so long to get over it,” she tells POPSUGAR. It was only when she realized her strength that she began to gain self-confidence.

“Once I started winning more, it became clearer that I had to be so strong,” explains Davis-Woodhall. This revelation came just after she saw one of her idols, Serbian long jumper Ivana Spanovich, at the 2023 World Championships. “She looked like a goddess with her big, strong muscles,” says Davis-Woodhall. “I thought, 'Oh… I need to look really strong to jump really far.'

Although she still has moments of self-doubt, her strength now gives her confidence rather than taking it away. “I'm still learning. I'm still adjusting. I still find beauty in myself to like how strong I look,” says Davis-Woodhall. But for the most part, “Whenever I'm strong, I really love my body,” she says. “I'm so obsessed.”

“Whenever I’m strong, I really love my body.”

David Woodhall's difficult relationship with his body is not unusual, especially for young girls and athletes. According to Dove48 percent of girls who quit sports were told they had the “wrong body type.” Another Women in Sport study found that 61 percent of girls who quit the sport felt they were judged for playing the sport.

In an effort to combat these statistics, Dove created program “Sports with body confidence” to help young girls stay active in sports and feel more confident in their bodies. “[The Body Confident Sport program] provides advice, tips and guidance to women and young girls on how to stay confident,” says Davis-Woodhall, one of the Dove Body Confident partners. “There is no one better in this world than you, and that is what the Sports program reminds you of.”

When asked what advice she would give to her younger self, Davis-Woodhall responds with some tough love: “I would punch her in the face and [tell her to] pull yourself together,” she jokes. On a more serious note, Davis-Woodhall remains in good spirits thanks to her strong support system, which includes her Paralympic husband Hunter Woodhall. “My husband is certainly the person who allows me to be myself,” she says. “When I come home, he doesn't tell me, 'You need to relax, you need to do this, you need to act like this, you need to do it like this.' He really just lets me be myself.”

When she feels pressured, Davis-Woodhall goes out of her way to “over-communicate” with her family. But sometimes all you can do is allow yourself to feel your emotions fully. “I passed out right before ATHLOS,” admits Davis-Woodhall. “You know when your mind is so overwhelmed with so many things going on?”

She may have looked cool, calm and collected in that moment, but it's not always easy. For Davis-Woodhall, speaking out is part of rebuilding her self-confidence (and, for the record, she still left ATLOS with the crown). “I feel so good after this accident,” she says. “Maybe sometimes you need a good rest,” Popsugar suggests. “Exactly. It's okay to fail, says Davis-Woodhall – as long as you remember to lock in afterwards. “Keep kicking. Continue. You are in the right place.”

Chandler Plante (she/her) is a social producer and staff writer for the health and fitness department at Popsugar. She has over five years of experience in the industry, having previously worked as an assistant editor at People magazine, social media manager at Millie magazine and a contributor at Bustle Digital Group. She earned a degree in magazine journalism from Syracuse University and lives in Los Angeles.