Muffy Davis’s, Stanford, Olympic dream has taken on many forms throughout her life. Her Olympic journey began at age three when her parents — both skiers — put her on her first set of skis. She started racing at age seven, and Muffy always knew, “God had made me to be a ski racer, and I was going to race in the Olympics.”
A devastating training accident in 1989 left Muffy, then a junior skier, wheelchair-bound. Suddenly, it seemed her Olympic dream had ended. “At first, I said I wasn’t going to ski again unless I was standing on two legs,” Muffy recalls. But after a while, she realized how much she missed skiing and how much she needed to be out on the mountain.
The solution: relearning how to ski with a monoski. “I was a ski racer in my heart and soul, so I gave it a shot,” Muffy says. Competing in the Winter Paralympics in 1998 and 2002 earned Muffy a bronze medal, three silver medals and a successful ending to her Olympic dream. She “retired” from racing and went on to travel, volunteer, get married and eventually start a family.
Shortly after her daughter was born in December 2008, Muffy began handcycling recreationally. Recognizing that she needed a way to get back in shape, she began getting more serious about the sport. “Being a typical competitor, I needed to have a goal,” she explains. “First, my goal was to do a marathon about four months after my daughter was born.”After finishing that race, Muffy began setting more goals for herself and eventually learned she could compete in nationals in handcycling. “One thing led to another, and I won nationals,” she says, admitting that she progressed in the sport far faster than she expected. “At first I thought, ‘Rio might be fun,’ but when I realized competing in London was a possibility, I went 100 percent into it.”
In 2010, Muffy was named to the U.S. team, and she officially qualified for the Paralympics in London in June 2012. In September 2012, the winter Paralympian competed in her first summer Paralympics. A lot had changed since she raced in her last Games a decade earlier — this time she had her daughter and husband cheering her on from the sidelines.
Muffy is quick to acknowledge the sacrifices that her family has made for her to succeed in her sport, and she says her favorite moment in London was sharing her win with her loved ones. After winning her first race, she didn’t see her family until the medal ceremony. But as soon as she found them, her husband handed their daughter over to her, and Muffy presented her with the flowers from the ceremony. “She’s sacrificed, too,” says Muffy. “She knows Mom has had to travel and be gone. It’s really a shared success.” After winning two more races in London, Muffy brought home a total of three gold medals to complete her collection.
Today, Muffy serves the people of Idaho in the State House of Representatives.
“In 2016, I realized it was time for a new race,” Muffy said of her run for office.“I love our state, and I want to be part of the race to bring Idaho to the top.”
Tri Delta looks forward to continuing to watch this Tri Delta Woman of Achievement as she strives for excellence in all that she does.