At 13, Anna Tunnicliffe decided she wanted to win an Olympic medal in sailing. And she did, taking gold in the Laser Radial class at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

“(It’s) the most amazing feeling in the world,” she says. “Not too many people can say they’ve won one.”

Now 30, Tunnicliffe began training at CrossFit B&S in Miami about a year and a half ago.

“I was fit, but I was just not getting fitter. I wasn’t getting stronger,” she explains. “I started CrossFit, and just mixing it up the way it did … immediately took my fitness level up.”

Her sailing also improved, she adds, and she became mentally stronger on the water.

Today, Tunnicliffe has a new goal: qualify for the CrossFit Games.

Last year, she qualified for the South East Regional, but the competition was a week before the Olympic trails. This year, she placed 13th in the Open, though she actually doesn’t know that.

“I don’t want to know where I rank because … it gets to you mentally. Like when I’m sailing, I don’t look at my scores. I don’t know where I am because, ultimately, it doesn’t matter until the end. As long as you give your best effort, that’s all you can do.”

She will compete at the South East Regional May 17 to 19.

Video by Michael Dalton.