At the games, McKinnon-Tucker and fellow skipper Nick Scandone won a gold medal for the US, sailing in the SKUD 18 class.

[1] Shortly after winning the gold in China, Nick died following a six-year battle with Lou Gehrig's disease.

McKinnon is the mother of two, has campaigned in four Paralympic cycles (Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016) [2] and has been named to the US Sailing Team a total of eight times.

Presently, McKinnon is campaigning again in the SKUD 18 boat for the Rio Games with Ryan Porteous, 22 of San Diego, California.

The story of their 2008 journey to win Gold in China while facing her teammate's terminal illness and her then 2-year-old son's brain cancer diagnosis is told in the book "Nick of Time" co-written by Cara Wilson.