MURPHY Annalise

General
RETURN TO LASER RADIAL
Having sailed in the Laser Radial class at the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016, she partnered with Irish sailor Katie Tingle in the 49erFX class in mid 2018 with the aim of competing in the class at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. However, in September 2019 she announced she was switching back to Laser Radial because she believed she and Tingle had not reached a high enough standard to compete for the podium in Tokyo. "I hate letting people down, and it's the hardest decision I ever made in my life. Even though there were a lot of positives from my time in the 49er our results weren't good enough to medal in Tokyo, maybe a top 10. We had a short time together and a lot of other girls have been competing in the 49erFX since it became a part of the Games in London, or have been competing at the top since 2016." (rte.ie, 18 Sep 2019, 06 Oct 2019)

THE OCEAN RACE
She sailed around the world competing in The Ocean Race with British sailing team Turn the Tide on Plastic between September 2017 and June 2018. "I decided to do the race because if I said no I would have later looked back on a chance missed to sail around the world. It was really hard but I learned a lot about being in a team of 10 people in off-shore sailing. It's an experience I will never forget. I don't think I could go back and do it, but maybe as a spectator to see all the sights along the stops during the race." (LinkedIn profile, 01 Jan 2020; soundcloud.com, 01 Jun 2020)

FUTURE PLANS
After the rescheduled 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo she plans on returning to university. She originally put her studies at University College Dublin in Ireland on hold in 2009 to focus on sailing. "My plan is to go back to university. I was meant to be going back in September [2020], after the Olympics, but I've deferred it by one year to go back in September 2021. So I'm really looking forward to that. After that I would like to get into coaching and help younger sailors. I've learnt so much through all my years of campaigning, I definitely want to help people with all the things I struggled through." (independent.ie, 30 May 2013; rte.ie, 21 Dec 2015; soundcloud.com, 01 Jun 2020)