E55 - Anastasia Posner, The team GB rower

The Christians in Sport Podcast

Anastasia Chitty (Née Posner) represented Oxford University in five Boat Race crews as well as representing Great Britain at World Cups, World Championships and the World University Games. In 2020 Anastasia retired from rowing to complete her medical studies, giving up her opportunity to compete for a spot in the British Olympic team for the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Danno caught up with Anastasia at her rowing club in Oxford to talk about her journey to faith and what it looked like to live as a Christian at the top-level of rowing.
(1:00) How do your sport and faith connect?
(1:51) How did you come to faith?
(2:50) Coming to Oxford and growing in faith
(4:45) The Boat Race
(6:52) Rowing in the first televised Women's Boat Race
(9:12) The transition from student-athlete to potential Olympian
(13:45) The pressure of competition to go to the Olympics
(15:16) Can you ever escape the pressure to perform?
(17:46) How did your faith develop during this period as a full-time athlete?
(21:30) What would have been different if you weren't a Christian?
(24:16) Four things in play for elite Christian athletes
(25:45) What did witness look like as a professional athlete?
(28:10) How hard was it to decide not to continue to Tokyo 2020?
(33:17)The role of Church for elite athletes
(35:16) Where did Christians in Sport fit in?
(38:32) Continuing rowing after stepping back