WEIS Anna

General
ROWING AND SAILING
She has competed in rowing for Boston University in the United States of America, and has found that rowing complements her sailing. "Fitness and mental toughness is a huge part in being successful in sailing and I believed rowing would definitely improve my fitness but also my mental toughness. To this day, being able to walk on to the rowing team has been one of the most amazing opportunities and one the best decisions of my life. I've been able to translate so many lessons that I've learned from rowing over to my sailing. I owe so much to BU [Boston University] Rowing. Despite what so many people have been saying for years, you can make it to the Olympics without sailing in college. Many people doubted my decision but I'm glad I proved them wrong." (sailingscuttlebutt.com, 19 May 2020)

CREWMATE
She met her Nacra 17 crewmate Riley Gibbs through a mutual high school friend. Gibbs asked her if she wanted to sail with him at the conclusion of her high school exams. "He's a really talented sailor. It's nice to have a partner who you're really friends with and close with, and who you can trust and communicate with. The communication aspect is the most challenging part of it, because you're out there and you want to win. These boats are so fast, and you're doing everything in split seconds, and being able to communicate and balance guy-girl emotions is something that we're always trying to do better. And it's not always easy. There will be times when we'll be yelling at each other, but at the end of the day everybody on the water is having the same issues as we are." (picuki.com, 08 Jan 2020)

FOREARM CONDITION
She required surgery for exertional compartment syndrome in her forearms in 2019. She began experiencing issues after starting to sail in the Nacra 17 class. "Ever since I started sailing the Nacra in January [2019], I have had lots of issues with my forearms. In simplest terms, when my muscles in my forearms get inflamed, the median nerve gets pinched and I lose all function in my hands and grip. As much as I want to push through it, my body won't let me. I remember trying to get through each race at a time as best I could and just trying to 'hang on'. I would dump my arms into the freezing cold water after each race trying to get some relief. I had multiple different tests done [and] each one resulted in me screaming and crying. The needles were thick. After all this, every single test came back negative. I was so angry at the situation and had no idea what to do. Nothing led to a confirmed diagnosis. I feared I would go through all of this just for me to get the surgery and it not work. Finally I got some clarity, [and] I have to say surgery was the best thing that has ever happened to me." (Instagram profile, 01 Dec 2019; Instagram team profile, 01 Apr 2019)

STUDY BREAK
She took time off from her studies at Boston University to focus on competing at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. "I was actually planning on coming back in the fall [2020], but now I am going to defer another year. It was a little hard to wrap my head around [the postponement of the Games until 2021] because I was pretty excited to come back to school and finish my degree, but giving us another whole year to train is pretty big." (sailingscuttlebutt.com, 19 May 2020)