Anna Tunnicliffe Tobias (born October 17, 1982) is an American

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

and

CrossFit CrossFit is a branded fitness regimen that involves constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. The method was developed by Greg Glassman, who founded CrossFit with Lauren Jenai in 2000, with CrossFit its registered trad ...

competitor. In

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

she won an Olympic gold medal in the Laser Radial single handed sailing class. In 2009 and 2011, she won the ISAF Sailing World Cup in

Laser Radial The Laser Radial or ILCA 6 is a popular one-design class of small sailing dinghy, originally built by Laser Performance. It is a singlehanded boat, meaning that it is sailed by one person. The Laser Radial is a variant of the Laser standard, ...

. She also won the

women's world championship The Women's World Championship was the first women's professional wrestling world title. History Cora Livingston defeated Hazel Parker in 1906. Though the contest was originally for the Featherweight Championship, from that point she was bille ...

of the

snipe A snipe is any of about 26 wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill, eyes placed high on the head, and cryptic/ camouflaging plumage. The ''Gallinago'' snipes have a ...

class in 2010, and placed second in 2008. She was named

ICSA Women’s College Sailor of the Year ICSA Women's College Sailor of the Year, also known as Quantum Women's College Sailor of the Year Trophy due to sponsorship by Quantum Sails, is a sailing award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a t ...

in 2005, ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year in 2009 and 2011, and US Sailing’s Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year every year from 2008 to 2011. Tunnicliffe also competes at the highest level in CrossFit, most recently winning the 2018 CrossFit Games Masters 35–39, and competing in the individual open division at the CrossFit Games in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, 2015,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

. Her best finish was 9th overall, in 2013. She has three first-place event finishes at the Games: "The Beach" in 2014, "Sandbag 2015" in 2015, and "Rope Chipper" in 2016. On August 27, 2016, Anna Tunnicliffe married her longtime CrossFit coach Brad Tobias and changed her name to Anna Tunnicliffe Tobias. She and her husband co-own T2CrossFit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Biography

Anna Tunnicliffe was born in

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Her parents owned a

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

when she was a child and introduced her to

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cou ...

. Anna moved to

Perrysburg, Ohio Perrysburg is a city located in Wood County, Ohio, United States, along the south side of the Maumee River. The population was 25,041 at the 2020 census. Part of the Toledo metropolitan area, the city is southwest of Toledo. Perrysburg is the ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, with her family at the age of 12. She attended Perrysburg High School and joined the

North Cape Yacht Club The North Cape Yacht Club is a private yacht club located in La Salle Township, Michigan, on the shore of Western Lake Erie. Regattas The club hosted recently the following competitions: *North American Championships **2002 Thistle (dinghy), Thi ...

, racing Optimists and other small boats for the next five years. In 1999 she began sailing the Laser Radial. Her first event in this boat was at the Leiter Cup in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. 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 the district track championships in the 800 meters, setting a new high school record of 2 minutes 17.56 seconds. After choosing sailing over track, she decided to go to the

Old Dominion University Old Dominion University (Old Dominion or ODU) is a public research university in Norfolk, Virginia. It was established in 1930 as the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary and is now one of the largest universities in Virginia w ...

to study and sail. In January 2014, Tunnicliffe announced her retirement from Olympic Sailing after 12 years of competition. She continues to pursue her professional CrossFit career. On October 23, 2017, Anna Tobias announced that she would become a team athlete in Crossfit with a team from T2Crossfit, the box she co-owns with her husband. She also qualified to compete in the Masters division (35-39) and went on to win that division at the 2018 CrossFit Games

Awards

Tunnicliffe helped to bring four

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

to ODU, including the Women’s National Championship and three Women’s Single-Handed championships. 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, and as an A division skipper for both teams as a senior. In her sophomore through senior years, Tunnicliffe was awarded women’s team all American status; she earned co-ed all American status in her senior year. For every year the Quantum Sailor of the Year award (recognizing the top American college female sailor) was given, Tunnicliffe was a finalist. She was a runner up her junior year, missing 1st by 0.02 points, and won in her senior year. She was one of three finalists for the ICSA sportsmanship trophy. Tunnicliffe was ranked 1st in the world for the women's singlehanded dinghy, the Laser Radial.

Sailing finishes

CrossFit Games results

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tunnicliffe, Anna 1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Doncaster English emigrants to the United States American female sailors (sport) ICSA Women's College Sailor of the Year ISAF World Sailor of the Year (female) Old Dominion University alumni Old Dominion Monarchs sailors Olympic gold medalists for the United States in sailing Sailors at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Laser Radial Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Sailors at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Elliott 6m Snipe class female world champions US Sailor of the Year Extreme Sailing Series sailors CrossFit athletes Universiade medalists in sailing Alinghi sailors World champions in sailing for the United States People from Perrysburg, Ohio Universiade silver medalists for the United States Medalists at the 2005 Summer Universiade 21st-century American women