"I'm jumping 25 feet" - Tara Davis-Woodhall picks favorite USA Olympic jersey amid kit reveal controversy

Reigning world indoor long jump champion Tara Davis-Woodhall has opened up on her favorite USA Olympic jersey after Nike revealed the U.S. Olympic kit for the Paris Olympics 2024.

Following Nike’s unveiling of the kit for the U.S. track and field athletes for the Summer Games, fans and athletes showed their dissatisfaction with its design on social media.

World Championships 2023 silver medalist Davis-Woodhall didn’t show her disappointment publicly for the new kit. However, she recently picked an older jersey when asked to pick among all the USA jerseys the athletes have worn during previous editions of the Games.

She did so in a post shared by Beau Throws on X (formerly Twitter) where they asked the users to select their favorite outfit. Tara Davis-Woodhall said she would jump 25 feet if she got the U.S. Olympics jersey from the 1988 Games on her X (formerly Twitter) handle:

“Give me 1988. I’m jumping 25 feet”

At the Olympic Games 1988 in Seoul, many prominent athletes from the USA, including Florence Griffith Joyner and Roger Kingdom, donned the hooded tracksuit. This was notably the debut of the jersey at the Games, and it continues to have a huge impact on the USA's track and field community.

In that edition, the USA athletes topped the medal table in track and field events, winning 26 medals overall with 13 gold, seven silver, and six bronze. They finished above the Soviet Union, which earned lesser golds (10) but collected the same number of combined medals.

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Tara Davis-Woodhall reveals her plans for Paris Olympics 2024

Tara Davis-Woodhall of Team United States celebrates after winning the Woman's Long Jump Final on Day Three of the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 2024 at Emirates Arena on March 03, 2024 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

Tara Davis-Woodhall talked about her plans for the Paris Olympics 2024 in a recent interview with CNN Sport. On being asked about her priority for the Games, she responded:

“Gold is number one, obviously.”

However, she also mentioned that she wanted to have fun while participating in the event. She said:

“But I just want to go out there and have fun.”

The athlete believes that she had matured more as a person and an athlete. She stated that she feels more happy now than before, adding:

“I’ve found I feel more joy in what I’m doing now than what I did in Tokyo, (where) I felt like I was climbing up a ladder, just trying to get somewhere. Now I’ve figured out where I want to be and I’m doing what I want to do.”

At the Tokyo Olympics 2020, Davis-Woodhall finished sixth in the women’s long jump with a best effort of 6.84m. Malaika Mihambo (7.00m) of Germany emerged as the champion.

The qualification round of the women’s long jump at the Paris Olympics is set for August 6, while the finals are scheduled for August 8.