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Injury to Entrepreneur
How Lydia Lassila Turned Her Biggest Tragedy into a Life-Changing Business
Ryan Cox
August 10, 2024
No matter how much you knock Lydia Lassila down, she’ll get back up.
Lassila has bounced back from the lowest of lows to experience the highest of highs.
And she built a business while in the process of achieving greatness.
Photo: Nick Zolotko
Table of Contents
Who is Lydia Lassila?
Lydia Lassila is an Olympic champion and entrepreneur.
Born in 1982 in Melbourne, Australia, Lydia grew up in a working-class family with a Greek-Cypriot father and an Italian mother.
Despite financial challenges, her family lived comfortably. Her father ran a small business, working hard but always prioritizing family time—values that Lydia holds dear today.
As a teen, Lydia was a talented gymnast with dreams of Olympic glory, dreams of being the next Nadia Comaneci.
However, at 17, she faced the reality that she likely would not make it to the Olympics as a gymnast.
Around this time, a new program in Australia called the Olympic Winter Institute started recruiting extremists and training them to become winter sport athletes.
Lydia pivoted to freestyle skiing, leveraging her acrobatic skills from gymnastics.
Despite initial uncertainties, her natural talent and work ethic paid off.
Within 18 months, she was competing at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
However, the dangerous nature of freestyle aerial skiing soon became apparent.
Just six months before the 2006 Turin Olympics, she suffered a severe ACL injury.
Despite a remarkably quick recovery from using an allograft to aid in the reconstruction, allowing her to still participate in the games, she re-ruptured her ACL during the games and had to withdraw.
But Lydia vowed she would return.
During her recovery, Lydia started her own business to aid in her own rehabilitation – but more on this later.
She returned to competition in 2007, finishing the 2007/08 season ranked second in the World Cup standings and winning her first World Cup title in 2008/09.
Lydia's perseverance led her to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, where she became the second Australian to win gold in aerials.
She attributed her victory to the life balance she prioritized during her recovery year, during which she also got engaged.
“It was the best thing that could have happened to me.”
In 2014, Lydia competed in the Sochi Olympics, winning a bronze medal. This achievement she considers her greatest as she was balancing the responsibilities as a new mother, business owner, and full-time athlete – an amazing feat in time management.
In 2010, she was honored with the Don Award, perhaps her most prestigious award outside of her Olympic medals, commemorating her for not only her achievements, but her ability to inspire.
Lydia has stayed busy in competition since retiring, making two appearances on Australian Survivor in 2018 and 2020.
She was also the subject of a documentary called “The Will to Fly.” Released in 2016, the critically acclaimed film documents her journey on the way to fulfill her childhood dream.
What is Lydia Lassila’s Net Worth?
Lydia Lassila’s net worth is estimated to be $5 million.
The majority of this wealth comes from her career as a freestyle skier and her business ventures.
Throughout her career, Lydia secured endorsements from notable brands such as Acer, Suzuki, and Cadbury.
Among her endorsements, Bolle, which produces sunglasses, goggles, and ski helmets, aligns most closely with her personal branding.
These endorsements helped cover her expenses as an athlete and supported her during her competitive years.
Lydia's status as the world’s top aerial skier made her an attractive partner for various companies looking to reach their audiences through her influence and achievements.
Lydia Lassila’s Business Ventures
Lydia is transparent about living her life differently as an athlete compared to being a businesswoman.
As an athlete, she left nothing to chance, maintaining a rigid and disciplined approach to reach her dreams.
In contrast, as an entrepreneur, Lydia has learned to be more flexible, though she admits it can be stressful at times. Her goals are less concrete, and she aims to enjoy her work more instead of strict discipline.
She believes in the 6-month plan: setting short-term goals and determining how to achieve them.
Her approach to business reflects a more relaxed attitude than her athletic career.
Her goals are simple: find a balance between work and personal life, and strive to enjoy her work without sacrificing family time, lifestyle, or health.
And she’s okay with the slower rate of growth that comes with that.
BodyIce
The idea for BodyIce was born out of frustration during the 2006 Turin Olympics.
After rupturing her ACL for the second time in a year, Lydia was given a plastic bag of ice by the medical staff in Olympic village, which she had to balance on her knee.
The bag kept slipping and leaking.
Out of sheer frustration, she recalled throwing the bag on the ground.
“Someone should make a decent ice pack that stays cold and doesn’t fall off my knee!”
Enter BodyIce. Based in Melbourne, it is a Certified Carbon Neutral Sport and Wellness brand.
During her recovery surgeries from 2005 to 2006, Lydia developed prototypes for better ice packs.
Within six months of her surgery, she had a usable prototype that she began using herself.
Lydia’s surgeon was so impressed with her creation he ordered 500 units, making the company profitable from day one and providing her with additional income to support her athletic career.
“It also removed any financial stress that I may have had and given me security in the background, knowing that when I did retire, I was going to be fine. I could go straight into a new life with something already established.”
Lydia continued innovating the BodyIce product line by solving her own problems–a strategy that would prove to lead her to strike gold multiple times.
While giving birth to her first child, she had a horrible experience recovering from childbirth.
“In hospital, the nurse handed me a frozen condom to shove in my knickers, and my instant reaction was, “surely we deserve better than this!”
So, she expanded her brand into BodyIce for Women, focusing on postpartum recovery needs such as vaginal swelling and breastfeeding.
Her experiences as a mother further inspired BodyIce Kids, featuring ice and heating packs with fun animal designs to make them more appealing to children.
Despite admitting that she struggles to connect her athletic accolades with her business, Lydia believes athletes should leverage their achievements in their entrepreneurial ventures.
Today, BodyIce offers a range of hot and cold compression sleeves for various uses and joints. While specific revenue figures are not publicly available, the brand continues to operate successfully.
ZONE
In 2020, Lydia launched ZONE, her eco-friendly yoga and wellness brand, after officially retiring from professional sports.
The brand is inspired by the thrill of “being in the zone,” a state of ultimate focus she experienced as an athlete and through yoga.
ZONE is another venture born from her experiences with injury.
Lydia credits yoga with extending her career beyond 2012, after a severe back injury nearly ended it. Her yoga instructor, Duncan, played a crucial role in her recovery and continues to support her wellness journey.
“Yoga saved me. Yoga is my medicine. Yoga prolonged my career in sport and has helped me live better in life.”
Lydia contrasts being in the zone with times when her thoughts were clouded and distracted.
Before discovering yoga’s healing powers, specialists had warned her that her athletic career might be over due to her back injury. But within two yoga sessions, she noticed significant improvements in mobility and pain relief, fully recovering after just three months.
ZONE is Lydia’s homage to yoga’s gifts, particularly the laser focus and flow state it brings.
“Through ZONE, my mission is to help you find your ZONE through environmentally conscious products for yoga, your lifestyle, your comfort and your mental and physical health.”
The brand features sustainable products, including cork yoga mats, hemp clothing, oils, sprays, yoga props, and content such as yoga routines and a blog.
Although revenue figures are not publicly available, ZONE has received positive reviews, and the brand continues to actively produce content.
The Success Strategies of Lydia Lassila
Wake Early: With her busy schedule, Lydia believes it is imperative to get in productive hours early in the morning before your day becomes hectic with your responsibilities.
Compartmentalize: Lydia believes in the importance of getting in the zone and focusing on one task at a time. Multitasking is too difficult.
Solve Your Own Problems: Lydia’s businesses are inspired by her own problems and experiences. She creates products and solutions that have directly addressed her personal challenges.
Connect Your Life Stories to Your Business: While Lydia admits she doesn't always excel at this, her businesses still embody her personal story, including her struggles and breakthroughs.
The Bottom Line
Lydia Lassila's story is not only inspiring but serves as a valuable playbook for aspiring entrepreneurs.
She identifies a need—one that happens to be based on her own experiences—and builds a brand around solving that problem.
Many entrepreneurs say it is easy to create a first product but that the real challenge lies in developing a second. Yet, Lydia executes on her product expansion perfectly.
Lydia exemplifies the athlete-entrepreneur model and is a role model worth following in her ongoing endeavors.
Grit is what makes the difference in the end. It’s how you learn who you are and what you’re capable of.
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