Name: Maria Michta-Coffey

Sport: Track and Field

Event(s): 20-kilometer Race Walk

Height: 5-5

Weight: 110

DOB: 6/23/1986

Birthplace: Stony Brook, N.Y.

Hometown: Nesconset, N.Y.

High School: Sachem High School (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) ‘04

College: Long Island University C.W. Post ’08, Biology (undergraduate); Mount Sinai School of Medicine ‘14, Biomedical Sciences, Microbiology

Team/Club: Walk USA

Coach(es): Tim Seaman

Olympic Experience

• Two-time Olympian (2012, 2016)
• Rio 2016 Olympic Games, 22nd
• London 2012 Olympic Games, 29th

World Championship Experience

• Most recent: 2015 – 20th
• Years of participation: Outdoor – 2011, 2013, 2015
• Top finish: 20th – 2015

Other Career Highlights

• 2015 Pan American Games, 7th (20K race walk)

Personal: Daughter of Susan and Richard Michta...Married her high school sweetheart, Joe Coffey, in 2014...Has a brother, Ricky, and two sisters, Kristie and Katie...Was inspired to pursue her Olympic dream while watching U.S. gymnast Kerri Strug stick her vault landing at the 1996 Olympic Games, and while she first thought that soccer was her calling, she began to excel in race walk in high school...Graduated from Long Island University C.W. Post as the valedictorian with a degree in biology, missing her commencement to compete at the 2008 World Cup...Hobbies include reading nonfiction books about viruses, microbes, vaccines and thriller fiction novels, running and swimming...Serves as a volunteer coach for the track and field team at Sachem East High School in New York.

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