UNIVERSITY PARK — The moment Monica Aksamit has waited for her entire life is almost here.
The former Penn State fencer is in Rio for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, which begin Friday, Aug. 5.
For the intense 26-year-old, the Olympics have been a lifelong dream. Is she excited? You bet.
“On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d say that I’m probably at 100 in terms of excitement,” Aksamit said, shortly after arriving in Rio. “I’m excited about the entire experience, but I’m probably looking forward to meeting the world’s best athletes, as well as watching them compete.”
Aksamit knows a thing or two about the world’s best athletes. After all, she’s one of them. She’s been putting in extra work as she readied for the Olympics, training pretty much non-stop. During the stretch before Rio, Aksamit trained in both Germany and in the U.S. at the Manhattan Fencing Center.
“Lately, I’ve been training a minimum of once a day, five days a week, up to a maximum of twice a day five days a week. It depends on whether or not we’ve had a tournament coming up or not,” she said. The training sessions typically last five to eight hours.
Aksamit, of Matawan, N.J., spent some of her childhood living with grandparents in Poland, and has been fencing since she was 9.
“I have been fencing for 17 years now. I started at a Polish-American fencing club after the fencing coach talked my mom into bringing me in to try out. (I was) in love with it from day one,” she said.
The former Nittany Lion is now one of the top-ranked female saber fencers in the United States.
“I ended up at Penn State because I knew Wes Glen, the coach, pretty well. I also fell in love with Penn State when I attended a fencing summer camp there.” Her time at the university, she said, helped in many ways to prepare her for Rio.
“NCAAs are said to be the hardest tournament by several Olympians, so I’d like to think that being able to handle that pressure and stress has helped me prepare for the Olympics.”
Although Aksamit was a natural — even as a child — that didn’t mean she was Olympic material. However, she started to dream about performing at the highest level at a young age.
“I didn’t always have the dream, but the dream began when I was 14, watching my now-Olympic teammate Mariel Zagunus win her first gold medal in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.”
Physically, Aksamit believes she is in the best shape of her life. At 26, she’s been dedicated to one thing — fencing. There’s no more balancing her classwork with her time in the gym. That has paid dividends.
“Physically, I’ve made sure that I’m strong by doing strength training. I’ve made sure that my endurance is solid by doing interval training at the gym, as well as fencing footwork. And I’ve worked on my agility.”
However, as any athlete knows, there’s more to winning than physical strength. Mentally, Aksamit has prepared, too.
“I’ve been working on my memtal game for over a year now with my sports psychologist, Dr. Doug Gardner.” She’s also been working with her personal coach, Yury Gelman.
Now, Aksamit has her sights set on a medal at Rio. She knows it won’t be easy, so she speaks carefully when talking about goals.
“I’m really not trying to set any other goals aside from doing everything that I can on the strip. I don’t want to walk out of the venue knowing that I could have done more,” she said. “Medal or not, I want to be able to say that I did everything in my power for that result.”
