Anna Tunnicliffe

Every Olympic athlete is determined, but Laser Radial sailor Anna Tunnicliffe has strengthened her will to win like a well-toned muscle. As a senior at Old Dominion University, she came off the water after a first day of racing at the singlehanded nationals disappointed with her finishes. She informed her coach she was going to win every race the next day—and she did.

“I was very focused that morning, and the breeze was up—which helped my case,” says Tunnicliffe. “Once I won the first three, I felt very comfortable and had good starts, good speed, and got seven firsts to open a nice lead.”

After graduating college in 2005, the Olympics received her full-time focus and medal-level performances at regattas all over the world followed. Within a year, she had risen to the top of the ISAF (International Sailing Federation) World Sailing Rankings in the Laser Radial class: by March ‘06, she was ranked third in the world and has since stayed in a top-three standing, keeping the number-one slot in 2007 for seven consecutive months.

But while Tunicliffe was honing her talent with an eye on China, so too was another American sailor of equal determination and will. Both Tunnicliffe and Paige Railey proved to be powerhouse talents on a global scale, and the U.S. Olympic Team Trials became a showdown between these two competitors. Tunnicliffe won the opening race of the Trials and kept a leading points edge throughout the regatta, with Railey finishing second.

Born in England, Tunnicliffe was first introduced to sailing on her parents' yacht and sailed Optimist prams in England. But sailboat racing really ignited her interest at age 12, when she moved to the United States and started winning more races.

As Tunnicliffe prepares for the Olympic Regatta, she knows she will face a fleet of elite athletes—each having a unique combination of raw talent, focus, and a desire to win. But if Tunnicliffe has an edge, she feels it is the emphasis she places on her fitness—and the physicality of singlehanding a Laser Radial is what drew her to this boat in the first place.

Olympic gold could be in her future, but Tunnicliffe has already proven to be a champion on the racecourse, and in her attitude too. When she competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials, she did not talk about Paige Railey as the one person who could stand between Tunnicliffe and her Olympic dreams. In the end, she credited Railey with making her a better sailor.

"Knowing that the other is sailing hard at the same time somewhere else, it makes you push yourself that little bit harder," says Tunnicliffe of the ongoing contest between her and Railey. "That rivalry that formed over the years has definitely pushed me to where I am today."

SIGNIFICANT SAILING ACHIEVEMENTS:

2007 U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) SportsWoman of the Year/Sailing
Ranked #1 in the world in ISAF Laser Radial rankings (2007)
Quantum Sails College Sailor of the Year (2005)
Inter-Collegiate Sailing Assn (ICSA) All-American (2003, 2004, 2005)
Achieved All-American status in both women's and co-ed fleets in 2005

SAILING RESUME:

2008
1st Delta Lloyd Regatta/Medemblik, Netherlands
2nd French Olympic Sailing Week/Hyeres, France
2nd US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR/Miami, Florida
9th Sail Melbourne International Regatta/Melbourne, Australia

2007
1st U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Sailing/Middletown, Rhode Island
1st The Good Luck Beijing - 2007 Qingdao International Regatta/Qingdao, China
1st Laser Radial Midwinters East/Clearwater Beach, Florida
3rd Laser Radial Womens North American Championships/Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
4th US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR
4th U.S. Women's Match Racing Championship/Detroit, Michigan
5th ISAF Sailing World Championships/Cascais, Portugal
6th Rolex Osprey Cup/St. Petersburg, Florida (match racing)
6th Semaine Olympique Française/Hyères, France

2006
1st US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR
2nd Laser Radial Womens North American Championships/Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
2nd Rolex Osprey Cup/St. Petersburg, Florida (match racing)
4th HRH Princess Sofia Trophy/Palma de Majorca, Spain
4th Laser Radial World Championships/Los Angeles, California
4th The Good Luck Beijing - 2006 Qingdao International Regatta/Qingdao, China
5th Semaine Olympique Française/Hyères, France
7th ISAF World Sailing Games/Lake Neusiedl, Austria

2005
2nd Laser Radial Midwinters East/Clearwater Beach, Florida
2nd Rolex Osprey Cup/St. Petersburg, Florida (match racing)
3rd Laser Radial World Championships/Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil
8th Laser Radial European Championship/Split, Croatia

2004
4th U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Sailing/Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (Europe Dinghy)