American Lee Kiefer, center, winner of the gold medal in the women’s individual foil event, celebrates on the podium with silver medalist American Lauren Scruggs, left, and bronze medalist Canadian Eleanor Harvey at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.
Andrew Medichini/AP
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Andrew Medichini/AP
American fencers Lee Kiefer and Lauren Scruggs made Olympic history, alone and together, in the women’s individual foil event on Sunday.
Kiefer, 30, of Lexington, Ky., won foil gold for the second straight Olympics after beating Scruggs 15-6. The victory makes Kiefer the first American woman to win two Olympic gold medals in individual foil.
Meanwhile, Scruggs, a 21-year-old Harvard student from Queens, New York, finished with her first medal — silver — in her Olympic debut. She also became the first Black fencer to win an Olympic medal for the United States in an individual women’s event, the Associated Press reported.
This is the first time in Olympic history that two American women have stood on the same podium in women’s individual foil. The last time American fencers shared the podium was at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, in women’s individual sabre.
Canadian Eleanor Harvey won bronze, Canada’s first Olympic medal in fencing.
On Sunday, Kiefer said she was amazed by her achievement.
“I don’t realize it happened, just because it’s been a very long day, with a lot of ups and downs. But here we are, making history, it’s awesome. Thank you to all my loved ones who are cheering me on in the United States, to all my loved ones who are here, this is for you,” she told Olympics.com.
Kiefer, who began fencing at age 5, won gold at the Tokyo Games. Outside of fencing, Kiefer is a medical student at the University of Kentucky School of Medicine. She is also married to Gerek Meinhardt, another fencer on the U.S. team.
After Kiefer’s victory, Meinhardt wrote on X: “Words can’t express how proud I am of her… I knew she could do it.”
MY AMAZING WIFE IS A TWO TIME OLYMPIC CHAMPION!!!!
Words can’t express how proud I am of her… I knew she could do it. She knew she could do it. But to actually do the damn thing, and to do it twice, in two completely different environments… pic.twitter.com/7TgudsuCRw
-Gerek Meinhardt (@GerekMeinhardt) July 28, 2024
After winning silver, Scruggs said she was “more happy than disappointed” with her performance.
“I think it was a shock for me to be here in the first place, so I don’t even think I had time to digest this loss, to be honest. It’s just shocking and super grateful,” she told the AP.
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