Feb 5, 2019 5 min read

Most people might not think of Avella as a hotbed of Olympic sailing.

In fact, gold medalist Anna Tobias probably never even heard of the town when she was a little girl in England. But for the Olympic champion, the road to the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo starts in the little village in western Washington County.

“We wanted to find our forever home,” said Tobias, 36, who lives in Avella with husband, Brad, and three dogs. “He wanted some acreage and just looking around, we found this house and it was perfect. So we settled down there.”

It was a circuitous route from England, which her family left when she was only 12. They settled in Toledo, Ohio, where the family of avid sailors taught Tobias the sport on Lake Erie and the Maumee River. Soon, she was competing in races with her local sailing club and landing a spot on a collegiate team in Virginia.

“My whole family sailed, so I got introduced at a very early age in England,” she said. “It’s kind of a natural progression to start racing and keep racing … kind of a family tradition.”

Like many children, Tobias grew up watching the Olympics and got inspired by the athletes.

“I watched an Olympic medal ceremony and I thought it was really cool that they got a medal,” she remembers. “I thought that I wanted to win a gold medal one day.”

She was about 12 at the time and admits she was not that good at the sport at the beginning.

“I just kind of kept it in the back of my mind. I never thought I would really do it and it would really happen. I wasn’t really that great of a sailor growing up. It wasn’t really until I got into college I started getting decent. From there I was like, well, maybe I could do this and everything just kind of sort of fell into place.”

Everything did fall into place in 2008 when she won that gold medal in the Beijing Olympics. It was everything she had dreamed of as a child and she went for the gold again four years later. This time, she learned the reality of just how competitive the sport is and how difficult winning Olympic gold can be as she was eliminated in the quarterfinal round. After the 2012 games, Tobias took up a new challenge as she started training in the gym rather than on the water.

A decade after winning Olympic gold, Tobias won the 2018 CrossFit Games as Masters Champion. That journey introduced her to a trainer named Brad, who told her she needed to be in better physical shape and that he could help her. He did, and they wound up falling in love and were married. The pair moved from Miami to Pennsylvania when business partners invited them to join in a deal to open a CrossFit gym in Bridgeville. Now, they own their own gym there called T2 CrossFit at 91 Southpointe Drive in South Fayette.

Eventually, the call of the sea and her competitive nature compelled Tobias to get back into racing when she had the opportunity to partner with fellow sailor Paris Henken. The two had competed against each other years before and thought it would be a dream team. Now, the goal is Tokyo in 2020 for the women’s 49erFX team.

Even getting to the games is not an easy or affordable task. Sailing is an expensive sport and there are only a few spots for each country. That means competing in Olympic trials around the world this next year in places like Germany, Italy and Spain. Since Avella isn’t exactly an ideal sailing spot, that means Tobias flies to Miami one week each month to train and practice with Paris. That means her other partner, husband Brad, has to be totally onboard.

“We just make it work,” she said. “We have three dogs at home. With them and making sure that business is good at home, I run the business and we just talk a lot. He’s very supportive.”

Besides a supportive husband, an Olympic dream also takes a lot of money. The budget for one year of operating the boat, equipment, training and travel is more than $150,000. A spot on the Olympic team would mean funding from the U.S. Olympic Committee and U.S. Sailing Team. Until then, Anna and Paris are raising funds and securing sponsors to help finance their race for the gold.

“It’s very expensive equipment and it’s shipped around the world,” Tobias said. “We’re always looking for money to get the best possible equipment. You ship the boats around the world to, say, Tokyo. So if you qualify your boat, then you have to ship it to get it to Tokyo for the Olympics.”

Tobias and her team are trying to get local supporters involved by holding a fundraiser from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday at T2 CrossFit near the Bridgeville interchange. There will be food, drinks, a meet and greet and photo opportunities with Anna – and her Olympic gold medal- and her teammate, Paris. There will be raffles and Chinese auctions as well.

For more information on the team’s quest for gold or to purchase tickets, visit AnnaParis2020.com. People can also donate to the team at www.henkentobiassailing.com.