2024-07-29 17:25:03
Lee Kiefer tried not to feel the pressure of repeating as Olympic champion, even while knowing deep down that earning a second Olympic gold medal would be tougher than earning her first.
“No matter how much I tried to prepare, there’s still so much pressure I put on myself to just fence well and stay present,” she said.
Add in the distractions of fencing in front of an 8,000-person crowd, including many friends and family members who couldn’t watch her live in Tokyo 2020, and the stakes become even higher.
“It’s so special to have my family (here), all my best friends who I haven’t even seen,” she said. “I tried to spot them in the crowd. But it makes it so much fuller.”
Kiefer, who fences for the Bluegrass Fencers’ Club in Lexington, was already the first American woman or man to win gold in foil. Now she’s the first to do it twice, cementing her legacy as one of the greatest fencers in U.S. history.
She joins Mariel Zagunis (women’s saber gold in 2004 and 2008) as the only American fencers with two individual Olympic gold medals.
But the night’s history didn’t end there.
Kiefer’s opponent in the gold medal final was Lauren Scruggs (Queens, N.Y.). Scruggs, who fences for the Peter Westbrook Foundation in New York City, becomes the first Black woman to win an individual fencing medal (of any color) for Team USA.
She also becomes just the second American woman to win an individual medal (of any color) in foil, joining Kiefer.
“I’m definitely more happy than disappointed,” she said. “I generally would say I think it was shocking for me to be here in the first place. So I don’t even think I’ve had time to process.”
Sunday’s matchup — won by Kiefer, 15-6, was the first all-U.S. Olympic gold medal final since Beijing 2008, when Mariel Zagunis defeated Sada Jacobson in the Women’s Saber individual final.
And it happened in one of the most picturesque fencing venues that any of the sport’s longtime fans have ever seen.
“This is insane,” Scruggs said. “Just seeing the sheer amount of people who are interested in fencing and who want to support fencers is just amazing, because we don’t really have that in America. So, I’m just super grateful to be able to fence in front of such a big crowd and in such a beautiful space.”
The last all-American final in women’s foil in any senior-level international fencing competition was in 2016, when Lee Kiefer fenced her Tokyo 2020 Olympic teammate Nicole Ross.
Kiefer becomes the third woman to win multiple Olympic gold medals in the women’s individual foil event, after Valentina Vezzali (ITA, 3) and Ilona Elek (HUN, 2).
USA Fencing
