Lea Davison

(USA): Mountain Biking & Queer Visibility

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Season 3

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Lea Davison is a 2X Olympic Mountain Biker and 2016 World Championship silver medalist looking to qualify for her 3rd Olympics. Lea is unabashedly herself in all ways, including being open about her sexuality: Lea is gay.

“OUR DEEPEST FEAR IS NOT THAT WE ARE INADEQUATE. OUR DEEPEST FEAR IS THAT WE ARE POWERFUL BEYOND MEASURE. IT IS OUR LIGHT, NOT OUR DARKNESS, THAT MOST FRIGHTENS US.”

This episode takes a dive into some of Lea’s professional cycling highlights, her co-founding of Little Bellas with sister, Sabra (a mountain biking/mentorship nonprofit for girls), and her decision to be open about her sexuality, which is something her sponsor Garneau, actively supports.

Experts interviewed include Sabra Davison, Andy Bishop, Frazier Blair, Marie-Andree Vezina and Dr. Susan Cahn. Audio clip of Megan Rapino from ABC 30’s LGBTQ athletes speak out proudly about what it means to be out in the world of pro sport. Audio clip of Gareth Thomas via ODN News’ article, Rugby star Gareth Thomas reveals he’s gay. Audio clip of Layshia Clarendon from her 6/22/17 Instagram post.

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Hearing how important swimming was to her, Taylor’s physical therapist encouraged her to return to the water. One day when at the Loyola pool, the swim coach who recruited her suggested Taylor explore para swimming. This recommendation changed Taylor’s life.

Flash forward to today and Taylor is a 2x S10 American Record Holder and 7x Parapan Games medalist. As Taylor looks to the future, she hopes to see a world in which women are “valued like the men.” She also shares how she hopes to become a Mom and how “women can be strong and powerful” while also at the top of their sport.

Alejandra is the Dominican Republic’s first female Paralympic swimmer, a Parapan American silver medalist, engineer, dog mom, and as she shares, “a 4’3” tall girl promoting inclusion.”

When not swimming (which she does 4-5 hours a day), Alejandra works for the International Paralympic Committee, making sport more accessible for all. As if that’s not enough, she’s also writing her masters thesis. When asked how she juggles it all, she shares that she’s driven by her why. She knows exactly why she’s waking up so early and has crystal clear goals.

In today’s conversation, we talk about her hopes for Paris2024, and Ale shares big news — she’s preparing for her retirement post-Paralympics! She also debunks some of the misconceptions about the Paralympics:
1. Paralympians are elite athletes NOT recreational athletes
2. She’s competing in the Paralympics NOT Olympics (they are different!).

Manasi Joshi has won 10 gold, 9 silver and 15 bronze medals at level 1 international tournaments. She’s a former World Champion (SL3), an engineer, an Arjuna award winner, Aspen Fellow, and has spoken at Harvard.

As Manasi approaches the Paris Paralympics, she’s feeling “stronger than ever.” That said, she’s pauses to flag HOW she hopes journalists and the media should talk about her, or rather how they shouldn’t. She shares, “I don’t want to be called inspirational because I happen to play the sport with a disability. I want to be called inspirational because I put in the same amount of time and effort and show up every day.” Manasi shares that she’d rather have a short column than pages in a magazine focusing on how she’s an inspiration because of her disability.

She’s more than a headline that pulls at people’s heartstrings: she’s an elite athlete who dominates international tournaments and puts in the blood, sweat and tears to make it to the top.