Maria Michta honored in front of hometown crowd

Maria Michta was honored in front of a hometown crowd in Nesconset Tuesday before departing for London to compete in the Olympics. (Photo Courtesy: Office of Leg. John M. Kennedy, Jr.)

Nesconset, NY (SmithtownRadio.com) – Days before appearing in front of a cheering crowd inside Olympic stadium, olympian Maria Michta received a sendoff from a cheering hometown crowd Tuesday in Nesconset.

“When you see me smiling out there it’s not just for me or my family; it’s for Long Island, it’s for Nesconset,” Michta says of her upcoming Olympic experience.

The night before leaving for London Wednesday, Michta was presented with a two thousand dollar check by Suffolk County Legislator John M. Kennedy, Jr. and the Nesconset Chamber of Commerce. The money will help cover the travel cost for Michta’s family.

“To see the people. To see the check they presented me with,” Michta tells SmithtownRadio.com’s James Brierton. “That’s me. That’s my hometown. It’s unbelievable.”

Michta’s family will travel to London in August to see their 26-year-old compete in the race-walk event on August 11. The competition airs Noon to 2 p.m. New York time on NBC Sports Network (Cablevision: Channel 146 / 408 // Verizon: Ch. 90 / 590). Also making the trip is Michta’s finance Joey Coffey, who proposed to Michta Sunday after nine and half years of dating.

“I call this ‘the six ring summer,’” Michta explains. “I got my five Olympic rings July 1 and I got my sixth ring on July 22.”

After the Olympics, Michta will return to her fifth year of graduate school at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan, where she is studying to get her PhD in biomedical sciences.

“I certainly have ‘Five Ring Fever’ and I don’t want to come down from it but we’ll see what happens for 2016,” Michta says of returning to regular life and her Olympic future.

Michta plans to share her Olympic experience with the world through her blog and twitter accounts.

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