This Brooklyn Athlete Is Headed To His 1st Olympic Games

BROOKLYN, NY — When the Olympic Games in Tokyo kick off on Friday, there will be a Brooklynite on the roster.

Yeisser Ramirez, a Cuban-born fencer, will represent the United States for the first time in the Olympic Games, according to Team USA's roster.

This year's qualification comes after Ramirez missed out on the 2016 Games when Team USA didn't qualify for a full team, according to USA Fencing.

"Coming from Guantanamo, I never thought about being in the Olympic Games, but I always had the feeling of ‘man, what it would be like to go there,’" Ramirez said in a recent interview about making the roster.

"I was taking to my cousin yesterday and remembering when we used to watch the Olympic Games and I always felt like, ‘The United States always wins … the United States is always a big team. Wow. It’s nice representing the United States of America.’ So now making the team means a lot. It means a lot to me."

Ramirez has previously won the USA Fencing Division I National Championship and has represented the United States at the 2015 Senior World Championships.

He came to the United States when he was 21 years old and became a U.S. citizen in 2015, according to the profile.

The now- 34-year-old is one of four fencers from Harlem's Peter Westbrook Foundation training center who qualified for the games.

Daryl Homer from the Bronx, Curtis McDowald from Jamaica and Khalil Thompson, who is from New Jersey, also train at Peter Westbrook and made the Olympic team.

The Foundation, founded by Olympic bronze medalist Peter Westbrook, is a nonprofit that uses fencing to enrich the lives of young people from underserved communities, according to its website.

The USA fencing team also includes Upper West Sider Nicole Ross, who will be competing in her second Olympic Games.

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

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