Amanda Clark was born on March 26, 1982 and has lived on Shelter Island, New York her entire life. Shelter Island is an island between the North and South Forks of Long Island about one hundred miles east of New York City.
Amanda's parents, Dennis and Ellen, took Amanda, her older brother Gregory and her older sister Rebecca out sailing when they were all just babies. Amanda's first solo sail, at age seven, was in an Optimist Dinghy, a youth training boat popular throughout the world. For several years Amanda joined the Junior Sailing Program at the Shelter Island Yacht Club, where she and her parents are members.
Amanda learned to sail her Optimist and soon began to race in local regattas. By the time she was ten, Amanda was sailing at national and international Optimist regattas. For years she worked very hard in this boat travelling all over the world to race and train against the best. Amanda advanced to the top level in the Optimist class, won numerous trophies and awards and became a member of the National Optimist Team, and represented the US at international regattas on the South American Team, European Team, and Worlds Team.
At age fifteen Amanda aged out of the Optimist and moved on to other boats. The one she chose to first concentrate on was the Europe, a 12ft dinghy that is the women's single-handed Olympic boat. At fifteen she became the youngest female to make the US Sailing Team in the Europe. Going on to place 3rd at the Olympic Trials. While sailing the Europe, Amanda also competed in junior events. She won two Women's Junior National Championships and attended the ISAF Youth World Championship three times where she claimed the bronze medal in 1999.
After finishing the Olympic Trials in April 2000, Amanda still planed on sailing the Europe for another campaign. In the beginning of 2001 she was given the chance to try the International 470 Dinghy (double-handedwomen's Olympic class). It was an excellent fit and after some searching for a crew, Amanda joined together with Sarah Mergenthaler to launch a campaign for the Olympics.
Amanda is a graduate of Connecticut College, where she majored in Studio Art and minored in Art History. She was a member of the varsity coed and women's sailing teams and enjoys swimming and weight lifting to stay in shape. When She finished with school in May 2005, Amanda and Sarah began sailing full time to reach their goal of medaling in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Currently Amanda is living on Shelter Island with her husband, Greg Nissen.