Muffy Davis’s accomplishments in the field of play are just as impressive as her accomplishments off.
For one, Davis competed in both summer and winter sports, and won a combined seven Paralympic medals.
She qualified for her first Paralympics, Nagano 1998, in alpine skiing. She took home the bronze medal in the slalom. Davis returned to the Paralympics four years later, and picked up silver medals in the giant slalom, super-G and downhill.
The skier over time collected seven world cup titles, including winning two straight in 2001 and 2002.
She then pivoted to Para cycling after giving birth to her daughter. A neck surgery in 2011 did not slow her down, as she won three gold medals at the London 2012 Games.
While those accolades are impressive, Davis continues to make a lasting impression in her advocacy work for the Paralympic Movement and disability community.
In 2017, Davis was elected to the International Paralympic Committee Governing Board. She was voted in by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee for her leadership and professional skills.
Davis’s candidacy was backed by five goals: increasing female participation in sport; increasing revenues for reinvestment; celebrating “heroes”; fair play in Paralympic sport; and expanding the movement itself.
She spent time on the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Advisory Committee, the UCI Para Cycling Commission, the IPC Women in Sports Commission and Higher Ground’s Board of Directors.
Davis grew up in Idaho, and she served as a Blaine County Commissioner and an Idaho State Representative. Her interest in health care, women’s rights and reducing the Medicaid coverage gap inspired her run into politics.
In 2010, Davis was elected into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. She sits alongside some of the greatest skiers and snowboarders in the country, and the hall of fame deems her “an outstanding example of how to turn a setback and serious challenge into an opportunity.”
She capitalized on her experiences with disability to become a popular motivational speaker.
Just like skier Gretchen Fraser, Kristen Cooper and Picabo Street, Davis has a run named after her on Bald Mountain in Colorado.
Davis has traveled to developing countries, such as Ghana, Vietnam and Thailand, to teach persons with disabilities about adaptive sports.
In 2002, she became the first paraplegic mountaineer to summit a peak over 14,000 feet, and she has twice ascended Colorado’s Pikes Peak.
Davis graduated from Stanford University in 1995 with a specialization in disability studies.
