BUCKiT® #31-Dotsie Bausch: Olympian, Survivor and Plant Powered Athlete

It’s the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. TEAM USA is lined up at the starting line of the Velodrome for the Team Pursuit cycling event. The women representing USA are going for gold against Britain. The eldest member of the three is a 39-year-old cyclist who years earlier nearly died from anorexia and a drug addiction.   Dotsie Bausch is a 7-time USA Cycling National Champion, a 2-time Pan American Champion and an Olympic Silver medalist. Titles achieved in a sport she didn’t start until she was 26 years old. This former runway model initially took up cycling to recover from an eating disorder and excessive Cocaine use. Desperate and suicidal, Dotsie who is 5’ 8”, weighed less than 100 pounds when she sought professional help.   This record-breaking athlete, overcame unbelievable odds to become an Olympian, is a staunch advocate for animal rights. She promotes a vegan lifestyle for everyone, especially athletes, who she says can perform as well on a plant based diet. A shining example of someone who after hitting rock bottom was able to reinvent herself and achieve the seemingly impossible -- become a champion not only in the world of cycling but to all the people she inspires and motivates to make a better life for themselves.   Fighting hard to regain control of her life, pouring everything into getting strong and healthy, and by vowing never to go back to the hell she had created has paid off in ways she never could have imagined.