Marianna Davis
Marianna Davis is an American politician, former Paralympic cyclist and alpine skier.Biography
Marianna was born in Sun Valley, Idaho. She was a top ranking junior skier and was poised to be named to the US ski team when an accident at the age of 16 left her paralyzed from the chest down. She continued to compete and also graduated from Stanford University in 1995.
Davis has traveled widely and competed in a number of disciplines. She won the bronze medal in slalom at the 1998 Winter Paralympics in Nagano, Japan. In 2000, she was the World Champion at Giant Slalom in Anzere, Switzerland. Davis won three silver medals competing in the 2002 Winter Paralympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. Davis retired from skiing in 2002. On June 1, 2002, she was in a team of four disabled climbers who reached the summit of the Mount Shasta in California. Davis was the first female paraplegic to climb a peak over 14,000 feet. The journey was possible by using a Snowpod which is a hand cranked tracked snowmobile devised by Pete Rieke. Davis was awarded Endurance Sports Disabled Athlete of the Year in 2002 and IOC Presidents Disable Athlete Award in 2004.
Davis took up the sport of handcycling in 2010, and was named to the U.S. Paracycling National Team. On September 7, 2012 she won three gold medals at 2012 Summer Paralympics for individual H1-3 road race, H1-4 team relay, and H1-2 individual time trial. In August 2013, Davis won 1st place for road race and time trial at the UCI Para-Cycling Road World Cup in Baie-Comeau.
In January 2018, Davis announced her candidacy for the Idaho Legislature, to serve Idaho Legislative District 26.
