Anna Tunnicliffe: Competing at the CrossFit Games

Before the US Team got left off the podium at the 2012 Games, it was the 2008 Games in China when Anna Tunnicliffe won gold in the Laser Radial and Zach Railey won silver in the Finn.

Both were part of the 2012 team, and while Zach made a late and unsuccessful effort to make the 2016 team, Anna retired from the Olympic trail in 2014 after 12 years of campaigning. But that was not the end of her competitive life.

Anna Tunnicliffe

Anna is now a dominant presence in CrossFit competition. Already a three-time Games competitor, she will be competing in the 2016 CrossFit Games on July 19-24 in Carson, CA. Here Anna speaks with Fitness HQ.

Okay, so you’re known first and foremost as an Olympic sailor and you have a gold medal to prove it. Explain how you went from sailing to CrossFit.
I got introduced to CrossFit during my training for the 2012 Olympics. We were training in Chicago and staying with the current owners of CrossFit E-Town. They said, come and check out this gym we go to and I instantly fell in love with the training style. When we got back to Miami for our next training session, I happened to stop in to CrossFit Gables, where I met my coach and now fiancé. I mentioned that I would like to compete and he said let’s get through the Olympics safely and then we can focus on training for CF a little more intensely. We set a goal to train for the 2013 Games as an outside shot and the actual goal of the 2014 Games, but as things worked out, we qualified for the 2013 Games and so it all began.

Do you find that there’s any crossover between the two sports?
The amount of time training is very similar. Obviously they are two very different sports. Sailing is a very mental game, as in trying to outsmart your competitors. CrossFit is very physical, but both require you to be consistent across the board and both are longer events.

Full interview… click here.