WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (WENY) - Watkins Glen native, Olivia Coffey is set to compete in her second Olympic Games when she heads to Paris with the Women's Eight rowing team. After finishing in 4th at the 2020 Tokyo Games, Coffey wants to bring home a medal this time around.

Coffey leaves for Italy on July 5th to train for a few weeks then they head to Paris a couple of weeks before the games. Olivia says she will not be in the opening ceremony as their event starts immediately afterward. The final, if they make it, is scheduled for August 3rd.

Coffey will be joined by Ithaca College grad and two-time gold medalist Meghan Musnicki, who is the oldest American to row at the Olympics at age 41.

The team has a new Head Coach and High-Performance Director since Tokyo. Coffey says the training has included a lot more volume.

Olivia discussed getting the opportunity be on the Women's Eight team again.

"It was kind of a long shot, I joined the team super late," Coffey said. "It was kind of like I was working full-time and I just thought I still feel like I am capable of being there and I really want an Olympic medal and I don't want to say what if in ten years and so I worked really hard, but there were so many talented people who were training as well so I was relieved to have made it and just fortunate that I'm on a second Olympic team."

As Coffey prepares to be on the water in Paris, she has her eye on an Olympic medal to bring back to her home community.

"I would love to do it for our community because it's such an important part of who I am," Coffey said. "We have a house in Burdett and I'm there constantly training, running on the Catherine Valley Trail. I rode on Seneca Lake when I was training during COVID and so I would love to bring back a medal, not only for myself but for the people who helped me along the way so that's my friends and family, but it's also like the community, the Southern Tier, basically everybody I really interacted with in this whole process."

The Women's Eight Heats begin on Monday, July 29th at 3:30 am eastern time.