Sept. 23, 2008
Norfolk, VA - Olympic Gold medalist Anna Tunnicliffe-Funk ('05) has been nominated for the 2008 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award. The ODU graduate was a three-time Collegiate sailing All-American and three-time ICSA Single-handed national champion. In 2005, she was named Quantum Collegiate Women's Sailor of the Year and the ODU Alumni Association's Female Athlete of the Year. Last month, Tunnicliffe-Funk won the Laser Radial Gold medal for USA Sailing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The other women sailor finalists are the British Yngling 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist team of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson, French match racer Claire Leroy, Australian 470 Olympic Gold Medalists Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson and Italian RS: X Silver Medalist Allesandra Sensini.
"I am very honored just to have been nominated, never mind becoming a finalist. The list of previous finalists has so many great names on it and to be thought of as part of that group is quite a special feeling," Tunnicliffe-Funk said.
The winner will be announced at the ISAF Annual Meeting in Madrid, Spain on November 11. This is the highest award a sailor can receive in recognition of his or her outstanding achievements by the world of sailing. The awards are presented every November to one male and one female winner.