Avenel Shows Off Their Pride In Olympic Fencing Champ

Her friends call her 'Daga,' but in Avenel, she's known as their great Olympic hopeful.

Dagmara Wozniak, a 24-year-old blonde beauty and a world-class fencing expert, will be demonstrating her sport on the United States' fencing team in Britain Wednesday, August 1. 

Wozniak is also a resident of the Avenel section of Woodbridge. Her hometown is so proud of her, the put up a sign on their Route 1 marquee sign, wishing her luck.

For her part, Dagmara was so delighted, she posted the picture of the Avenel Fire Dept. sign on her Facebook page.

"Absolutely amazing!" Dagmara enthused about the sign. "I'm about to cry."

And as her turn at the Olympics draws closer, the sabre fencing champ said she could hardly wait. "I'm speechless, but so ready to show what I'm made of!" she told her Facebook fans.

Dagmara has literally traversed the world to make it to the Olympic stage in Britain. 

Born in Poland in 1988, her parents left the country a year later, and at the same time the Soviet Union's hold over Poland was evaporating as the communist state fell apart.

Since she was five years old, Dagmara has been training for her August 1st shot at an Olympic medal, nj.com reported. She has trained for years at the world class Manhattan Fencing Club, her own gritty determination keeping her at her task. 

That, despite her mother Irena's bout with colon cancer in Dagmara's senior year at Colonia High School.

Both parents were the driving force behind Dagmara's push to become the best fencer she could be, she told nj.com.

After graduating from Colonia High School in 2006, Dagmara won a scholarship to St. John's University, where she joined their fencing team, according to an article on nj101.5.

This isn't Dagmara's first time at the Olympics; in 2008, she served as an alternate to the Olympic team.  She helped the US team win a bronze medal at the World Fencing Championships last year, said a report on app.com.

Dagmara will be competing against Salma Mahran of Egypt on Wednesday, August 1, at 1:30 pm London time (that's 8:30 am, New York time.) She will be showing off her stuff in the Women's Individual Sabre Fencing competition, according to the 2012 London Olympic site.