Upper West Side Native Is Going To Her Second Olympic Games

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — The Olympic Games in Tokyo kick off on Friday, and there will be an Upper West Side native representing the United States.

Nicole Ross is heading to her second Olympics as part of Team USA's fencing squad. Ross was born and raised on the UWS, where she graduated from the Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School on West 93rd Street in 2007.

After high school graduation, she took her talents a dozen or so blocks uptown, where she was a three-year All American at Columbia University, and won the NCAA individual women's foil title in 2010.

A couple of years later, Ross represented her country for the first time at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where she came in 25th in the individual event and was part of a Team USA effort that came in sixth overall.

Ross will be among the 621 members of the United States Olympic team at the Tokyo games.

The UWS native began fencing at the age of nine after being inspired by the movie "The Princess Bride." She currently serves as a volunteer coach for the Harvard fencing team and is pursuing her master's in psychology at The New School.

Keeping it local, her home fencing team is the New York Atheltic Club at 180 Central Park South.

You can watch Ross break down one of her bouts against the Italian world champion Alice Volpi below.

A full schedule for the Tokyo games can be found here.