United States’ Lee Kiefer, center, winner of the gold medal of the women’s individual Foil competition, celebrates on the podium with silver medal winner United States’ Lauren Scruggs, left, and bronze medal winner Canada’s Eleanor Harvey during 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 — both on their own and together — at the women’s individual foil fencing event on Sunday.
Kiefer, 30, from Lexington, K.Y., took gold in foil for a second Olympics in a row after defeating Scruggs 15-6. The win made Kiefer the first American woman to earn two Olympic gold medals in individual foil.
Meanwhile, Scruggs, a 21-year-old Harvard student from Queens, N.Y., finished with her first medal — silver — in her Olympic debut. She also became the first Black fencer to win an Olympic medal for the U.S. in an individual women’s event, The Associated Press reported.
Together, it was the first time in Olympic history that two American women were medaled on the same podium in women’s individual foil fencing. The last time U.S. fencers shared the podium was during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing in women’s individual saber.
Canadian Eleanor Harvey brought home bronze — Canada’s first Olympic medal in fencing.
On Sunday, Kiefer said that she was stunned by her feat.
“I don’t realize it happened just because it’s been such a long day with a lot of highs and lows. But here we are making history, it’s awesome. Thank you to all my loved ones who are cheering stateside, all my loved ones who are here, this is for you,” she told Olympics.com.
Kiefer, who began fencing at 5, earned gold in the Tokyo Games. Outside of fencing, Kiefer is a medical student at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. She is also married to fellow Team USA fencer Gerek Meinhardt.
After Kiefer’s win, Meinhardt wrote on X, “Words can’t express how proud I am of her… I knew she could do it.”
MY INCREDIBLE WIFE IS A BACK-TO-BACK 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 actually doing the damn thing, and moreover, doing it two times, in two completely different environments… pic.twitter.com/7TgudsuCRw
— Gerek Meinhardt (@GerekMeinhardt) July 28, 2024
After taking silver, Scruggs said she was “more happy than disappointed” of her performance.
“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,” she told the AP.