Davie was a talented athlete who seemed destined to reach Commonwealth Games, world championship and Olympic standard.
But he had a horrific training injury in 2004, rupturing two ligaments, snapping a nerve and busting a knee capsule.
Davie (23), a personal trainer, never lost hope over the next two years as he struggled through six operations to mend his injured leg.
His perseverance was rewarded this week when he was named in the New Zealand bobsleigh team for the world championships at Lake Placid in the United States next month.
"I'm ecstatic," he said. "A year ago I didn't think I'd be representing New Zealand in a different sport. It saved my sporting career. I was getting injured heaps trying to get back into jumping."
It has opened the door to an Olympic dream that he first had at the age of 15.
"It's the highest thing you can do in sport," he said. "That's my dream. If I didn't have a goal that big I probably wouldn't be doing it."
When he got the call from his strength and conditioning coach, Angus Ross, to have a trial for the bobsleigh team it opened up new horizons for Davie.
"It was a chance of going to the Olympics. I couldn't turn it down."
The aim at the world championships is to at least make the top 16.
A top performance would give the team confidence for next season's World Cup events that determine which countries qualify for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
"We want to show the rest of the world what we can do," he said. "It is just a matter of getting enough ice time."
Does he have any regrets over the serious injury that ended his athletics career in 2004?
"At the start I was a bit depressed because athletics was my life back then. I had just returned from the world junior championships where I tore my hamstrings and could not compete.
"I was down and out and wondering what I was going to do.
"If I had a time machine I don't think I'd go back and stop it. I'm competing in international sport again. I'll probably go higher on the bobsled than I would have in athletics."
Ross motivated Davie to keep going when he was ready to give up his attempts to get back into athletics.
Davie said there were similarities with bobsleigh and long and triple jump.
"All I have to do is to run fast and jump into the sled," he said.
Davie made a serious effort to get back into athletics after six operations. "I tried to get back too fast without getting my body right," he said.
A visit to Rowan Ellis at Body Synergy a year ago solved his injury problems.
"He saved my sporting career," Davie said. "I haven't been injured since I started working with him. It's a nice feeling.
"My hamstrings were getting stretched when I was running . . . I'm now fine. I'm faster, stronger and more balanced than I've ever been.
"It's worked for me. I'll never stretch my hamstrings again."
The most difficult part of the transition from athletics was to increase his weight from 80kg to 100kg.
Training for the world championships on the bobsleigh involves pushing a 113kg sled on the indoor track and lifting weights at the South Island Academy of Sport in Dunedin six days a week.
The sled speeds down the icy slopes at between 122kmh and 140kmh.
The first time Davie went on a sled was at Park City at the Drivers School in Utah in the United States.
"The scariest part [on a track] is crashing and scraping your head on the ice. If you don't keep your shoulder inside the sled it gets burnt."
He still has a yearning to return to athletics, but his complete focus at present is on the bobsleigh.
