Lee Kiefer won back-to-back gold medals in foil fencing and her teammate Lauren Scruggs took the silver Sunday to make history as the first Black fencer to win an Olympic medal in an individual women’s event for the United States.
Kiefer won 15-6 in the final against Scruggs and celebrated by pirouetting down the piste in joy. Knowing the U.S. anthem would play after the final no matter what “took the pressure off,” Kiefer said.
The vocal crowd in the cavernous Grand Palais was a huge contrast to the hushed, empty venue in Chiba, Japan, where Kiefer won her first Olympic gold three years ago under pandemic restrictions.
Kiefer dedicated her win to Buckie Leach, who coached her to gold in Tokyo but died 20 days later in a motorcycle accident. “He would be so happy for me,” she said. “This one’s for him. I even have a picture of him on my wall in the village.”
Kiefer’s gold medal is the fifth in an individual event for a U.S. fencer. She follows Mariel Zagunis in 2004 and 2008 as the only American fencers to win gold in the same event twice.
“Mariel, who did it before me, she has been supporting me and being a really important person to keep me feeling important and seen and empowered these past years, so I really want to thank her for being that person,” Kiefer said.
There hadn’t been an all-U.S. final in an Olympic fencing event since 2008, when Zagunis beat Sada Jacobson in saber as part of an American podium sweep. Before that, the last time it happened was in 1904.
“I’m definitely more happy than disappointed,” Scruggs said. “I think that it was shocking for me to be here in the first place, so I don’t even think I’ve had time to process losing, if I’m being honest. Just shocking and just super grateful.”
It continues a rapid rise to the top of world fencing for Scruggs, a 21-year-old Harvard student from Queens, New York.
“Maybe two years ago, I really thought I could make the team, until last year, I made my first senior team,” she said. “So to come out here and medal is just insane.”
Scruggs said she wants to inspire young Black fencers and show “that they have a place in the sport.”
“In certain communities, fencing is just not a sport you do,” Scruggs told NBC News after winning silver. “So I would say to those people, who are in those communities and who are interested in fencing: Do what you want to do … and follow your passion.”
Kiefer is part of a decorated Olympic power couple.
Kiefer’s husband, Gerek Meinhardt, is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist in men’s foil who will compete in two events in Paris. Kiefer and Meinhardt are medical students at the University of Kentucky who have taken leave from their studies to pursue their Olympic dreams.
Last week, Kiefer and Meinhardt helped teach “CBS Mornings” co-hosts Nate Burleson and Tony Dukoupil how to fence. “I want you guys to go out there having that confidence that you’re athletic and that you’re just gonna game the crap out of each other,” Kiefer told them during the lesson.
Asked about her future, Kiefer reeled off her and Meinhardt’s remaining events in Paris. “That’s as far as we’re thinking for now,” she said.
Kiefer went viral after she posted a TikTok video showing her exchanging Olympic pins with Steph Curry and A’ja Wilson during the opening ceremony.
Meanwhile, Eleanor Harvey became the first Canadian ever to win an Olympic fencing medal when she beat Alice Volpi of Italy 15-12 for the bronze.
Also Sunday, Japan’s Koki Kano beat France’s Yannick Borel 15-9 for the men’s epee gold medal. It was Japan’s first gold in an individual Olympic fencing event.
The vocal home crowd had to settle for silver for the second day in a row after Auriane Mallo-Breton lost in the women’s epee final Saturday.
Mohamed Elsayed won the bronze for Egypt 8-7 in overtime against Hungary’s Tibor Andrasfi.
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