Lea Davison: How to win when you don't

Credit: Katherine Taylor
Savanna Collins
Jul 13, 2022

Lea Davidson is a two-time Olympian and co-founder of Little Bellas, a mentoring program on mountain bikes for girls.

She is a graduate of Middlebury College where she competed as a downhill ski racer and began mountain bike racing in 2001. Her career highlights include a silver medal at the 2016 World Championships, a Bronze medal at the 2014 World Championships, and 3rd overall in the 2015 World Cup series. Davison also competed in the Rio and London Olympics.

Davison uses her platform to lift women up and mentor the next generation of mountain bike racers. Little Bellas creates a community to empower women and girls through cycling, accent the importance of goals and a healthy lifestyle, and emphasizes a positive female bond. Over twenty pro athletes and Olympians visit Little Bellas programs and inspire. Her mentees have gone on to win World Championship titles and stand on World Cup podiums.

Davison aims to be the LGBT+ role model that she needed growing up and to share her story to empower others to live a full authentic life.

In Davison’s TEDxBoston talk, she shares the power of competitive collaboration through the story of how she worked together with Team USA racers even though they potentially stood between her and her lifelong dream of an Olympic medal.

You can watch her TEDxBoston talk below.

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