"This sounds really ignorant"; "Disrespectful " - Fans react to Tara Davis-Woodhall slamming Michael Johnson over inability to 'save field events'

Tara Davis-Woodhall and Hunter Woodhall were the center of discussion among athletic fans after the couple slammed Michael Johnson for snubbing field events from the Grand Slam Track. The inaugural edition of the league is set to take place in 2025 and will only feature runners.

In an interview with BBC, Johnson claimed he wasn't capable of 'saving' field events and thus didn't include them in his league.

"I am going to save what I think I can save; I think I can save track, I don't think I can save track and field. Putting the two together works at the Olympics and World Championships, but I'm not sure it works when you're trying to create a professional sport outside of those global competitions," he said.

However, his comments angered long-jump Olympic champion Tara Davis-Woodhall and her husband Hunter Woodhall and they accused the sprinting great of ruining the sport.

"About my sport, it doesn't need saving at all. It's actually Michael you're ruining this sport, if you're trying to save just track, it's track and field for a reason," Davis-Woodhall said

The athletics fraternity was split over opinions reacting to the long jumper's harsh language towards the four-time Olympic gold medalist. One of the fans termed Davis Woodhall's actions 'ignorant', writing:

"I’m actually a fan of Tara but yeah this sounds really ignorant…"

Another fan called the couple's video message 'shameless'.

"Shameless video. Delusional at best", they wrote

A user argued that the Olympic champion could have directly addressed the issue with Johnson rather than posting it on social media.

"She could’ve reached out To the legend about prospects of including field events. But she has to record a video for social media. She went about this the wrong way," they commented

Here are some more reactions:

"The sport is underfunded, less sponsored, and athletes are underpaid and underrepresented both track and Field. MJ knows TRACK so he can help with underfunding, sponsorships, pay and representation. We barely see field events as is but yall don’t need help? Weird," a user wrote

"Very unfortunate, tone deaf, unconstructive and disrespectful. Hopefully the comms team or publicist(s) will help," another user chipped in

"I’m not understanding why this made them upset lol," a user noted

---

Tara Davis-Woodhall teases running in hurdles in the Grand Slam Track

2024 GQ Men Of The Year Party - Tara Davis-Woodhall (Source: Getty)

After Grand Slam Track announced it was featuring track events in the inaugural edition, Tara Davis-Woodhall joked that she might start running the hurdles again.

"I'll start hurdles again, just to be included (in the league)", she said in June 2024

The 25-year-old occasionally runs the 60m hurdles and the 100m hurdles and boasts an impressive personal best of 12.61s in the latter. She last competed over the 100m hurdles in 2021 and if she does switch from long jump, the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medallist is capable of winning a medal in the category in global competitions as well as the Grand Slam Track.