2004 Olympics: A moment when the grandest stage of all sports went back to the culture that created it, Athens, Greece. Let’s take a look at the men’s 4×400 metres relay. The United States team dominated the race, taking gold in 2:55.91, followed by Australia, which claimed silver with a time of 3:00.20, and Nigeria, which secured bronze in 3:00.70. Great Britain did finish ahead of the US in the Paris Olympics last year, but that was not the case this time. Tim Benjamin, Sean Baldock, Malachi Davis, and Matthew Elias were the British in the race.

The four of them gave their best in that race, and it showed as GB recorded 3:01.07 and secured fifth place in a fiercely contested final. This was their best time of the season up to that date. But out of these men, Malachi Davis had an interesting story. He was born and brought up in America, but used his mother’s birth in London to acquire a British passport and gatecrash the British Olympic trials at the 11th hour. A lot of success did not come his way on the track, but off the track, he built an empire. Let’s start with these early days.

Malachi Davis Early Life: Roots of a Champion

Malachi Davis was born on September 13, 1977, in Sacramento, California, and grew up in Davis, CA, as the middle child of four siblings. He was seven when his family encouraged him to put on the spikes and start track, and so he started doing competitive athletics. One big step came from his mother as she entered him in a Hershey Invitational meet. From that early start, he quickly began winning local competitions and advancing through the ranks. Who was his Mother?

Malachi Davis’ Parents: Meet Ava Gordon and Elijah Davis

Ava Gordon (mother): Ava was the driving force behind Malachi’s early athletic journey. Born at King’s College Hospital in London, she grew up in Northolt, where her mother worked as a seamstress and her father as a printer. After attending Vincent Secondary Modern, she emigrated to the United States in 1972 in search of the American Dream. Settling in Sacramento, she met and married Elijah Davis, Malachi’s father. Talking of his mother, he once said that she informed him little of her early life in England, except to say “the schools were better, they drive on the wrong side of the road, and have to endure constantly miserable weather”. What about his dad?

Elijah Davis (father): Elijah is a Vietnam War veteran and was the steady foundation of Malachi’s upbringing. Sources claim that by the time Davis went to junior high, his parents were divorced, and he was living between them in a shared custody arrangement. At that time, Elijah was an administrator at the local university who resided in a middle-class suburb. He was the voice of motivation in Malachi Davis’s ears when his confidence level took a blow. Other than this family here also had some siblings.

Malachi Davis Siblings: Meet His Brother and Twin Sisters

Talking of his relatives in British Relatives, David once said, “Actually, I don’t have that many. There’s Dennis, a second cousin, who has called me on the phone, and there’s my aunt, Carmen, who lives in Yorkshire. My grandad, I can’t remember his name, he passed away two years ago, and my grandma, I never met her and can’t remember her name either, but she’s dead, too.” Other than this, we know that he has two twin sisters and an older brother.

Malachi Davis’ Athletic Career

The Olympian first made headlines at his high school, where he held the record in the 400m and 200m. This was followed by state-level titles while at Sacramento City College. In 2017, he entered the college’s hall of fame. He was also awarded a scholarship to UCLA, where he became an All-American NCAA champion. He competed in the 4×400 m relay split, in addition to the 4×400 m indoor record teams. Today, Davis is on UCLA’s Wall of Fame at Drake Stadium. Other than the Athens Olympics,  he was also a member of Great Britain’s 4×400 m relay squad that finished 4th in the 2005 World Athletics Championships, clocking 2:58.82. The US won gold with a time of 2:56.91, the Bahamas claimed silver in 2:57.32, and Jamaica secured bronze in 2:58.07. Davis’ big break came off the track.

Malachi Davis Life After Athletics: Building a Sports Empire

The former athlete hung up the spikes in 2012 and started working on Formula Gold, which he co-founded with Olympic gold medalist Joanna Hayes after the 2004 games. Formula Gold offers athlete conditioning and functional programs that blend swimming, running, balance, and gymnastics with sport-specific work. They also develop physical-education curricula and act as performance consultants for pro sports organizations.

“The mind is the new frontier [of] better performance,” said Davis. Whether you’re in your thirties, forties, or older, it’s never too late to improve your mental game. Doing so could mean the difference between mediocre performances and personal bests. As CEO and creative director, he now works with professional athletes in the MLB, NFL, NBA, and ATP, while also designing innovative physical education programs for schools in California.

Malachi Davis Wife

As of now, there is no publicly available information regarding Malachi Davis’s wife or marital status. He is an inspiration for his work on the mental health of athletes. “We must look at our thoughts more closely,” said Davis. “For example, if we have 70,000 to 90,000 thoughts per day, that’s a lot of time and brainpower that’s being used, and for what? We want to direct our thoughts toward more productive outcomes that are positive and reaffirming—not just for our happiness, but also to reach our goals.” Davis is channeling his Olympic experience into empowering the next generation of athletes.