Anna Tunnicliffe

Anna Tunnicliffe (b. October 17, 1982) is a sailor, most notably of the women's olympic single-handed (the Laser Radial). As a member of the 2008 US Olympic team she won a gold medal in the Women's Laser Radial class.

Biography

Anna Tunnicliffe was born on October 17 1982 in Doncaster, England. When Anna was a child her parents owned a yacht and this is where she learned to like sailing. She and her family moved to the United States at the age of 12 and lived in Perrysburg, Ohio. There she attended Perrysburg High School and joined the North Cape Yacht Club where she raced Optimists and other small boats for the next 5 years. Then in 1999 she began sailing the Laser Radial. Her first event in this boat was at the Leiter Cup in Detroit, Michigan. Despite her small build she advanced to the Smythe Finals for her area, where she was the only woman sailing. She participated in cross country, swimming, and track at the varsity level. In her senior year she won district track championships in the 800 meter and set a new high school record of 2 minutes 17.56 seconds. After a hard decision between sailing and track, she decided to go to the Old Dominion University to study and sail. As a student at ODU she contributed greatly to the sailing community.

Awards

She helped to bring 4 national championships to the school including the ICSA Women’s National Championship, and 3 ICSA Women’s Single-Handed championships. At ODU she competed as an A division skipper for the women’s team and B division skipper for the co-ed team during her junior year. Then, her senior year, she competed as an A division skipper for both teams. In her sophomore through senior years, Anna was awarded women’s team all Americans status, and in her senior year, co-ed all American status. For every year the Quantum Sailor of the Year award was given, Anna was a finalist. The Quantum sailor of the year is an award given to the top college female sailor. Her Junior year she was runner up (missing 1st by 0.02 of a point), but in her Senior year she was finally given the award. Along with all of these accomplishments, she was one of three finalists for the ICSA sportsmanship trophy. As of now, Anna is ranked 1st in the world for the women's singlehanded dinghy, the Laser Radial. At the 2007 US Sailing Olympic Selection Trials held in Newport and Middleton, Rhode Island, she secured a spot on the 2008 US Olympic Sailing Team. [http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071209/SPORTS01/712080336/-1/SPORTS]

Finishes

World Ranking http://sailing.org/15_9490.php?includeref=ranking3760&rankdiscipline=2&ranktype=3&rankclass=61&rankdate=latest

External links

*http://www.annatunnicliffe.com
*http://sailing.org
*http://www.ussailing.org

Citations

* http://www.sailing.org/bio.asp?ID=USAAT1
* http://www.sailanna.com