For the first time ever, Team USA completed the 1-2 finish in women’s individual foil in Paris, with veteran Lee Kiefer and rookie Lauren Scruggs taking home gold and silver, respectively. As the two faced off, it became the first all-American individual foil final on the women’s side in Olympic history.
Kiefer, a four-time Olympian, defended her title in foil after winning gold in the 2021 games in Tokyo. With her victory yesterday, she became the second woman in Team USA’s history to win multiple medals in fencing, the first being Mariel Zagunis in 2004 and 2008.
Kiefer shared her feelings after the match with reporters. “There’s a million different obstacles that happened to make it to this point, so getting through all these things that you can’t even predict is just freaking cool and fun,” she said.
It was Scruggs’ first Olympic appearance, and she surprised many with her performance in Paris. Scruggs wasn’t expected to contest for gold, but she reigned victorious in four close matches, including an upset of the No. 1 seed Arianna Errigo of Italy in the round of 8 to earn her spot in the gold medal match. Even though she fell short to the more experienced Kiefer, Scruggs became the first Black woman to win an Olympic medal for Team USA in individual fencing. She also became the second out LGBTQ+ Olympian to podium in Paris.
"I'm definitely more happy than disappointed," Scruggs told CBS after the bout. "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."
Both Kiefer and Scruggs are very decorated fencers, but have different backgrounds and stories about how they got into sport. Despite these differences, both athletes use their platforms to advocate for issues they are passionate about to create change in their communities.
“Fencing has largely certainly been a non-Black sport. I hope that people who look like me, girls who look like me, feel they have a place in this sport.”
More than Medals for Kiefer: Women’s Reproductive Rights
Kiefer was born into fencing, as her dad, Steve Kiefer, captained the fencing team at Duke University. She began fencing at the age of five, and her older sister, Alex, and younger brother, Axel, also competed in fencing. She was also the youngest member of the 2009 U.S. Senior World Foil Team and has racked up a long list of accolades throughout her fencing career.
Kiefer also balances her fencing career and being a med student at the University of Kentucky School of Medicine. She is a big advocate for women’s reproductive rights, and last fall, began picking up shifts at the Kentucky Health Justice Network working to help women arrange access to reproductive care.
“I stand with women and other people with uteruses who come from all walks of life, are in complicated situations, and who all deserve the right to choose if they give birth,” Kiefer wrote on her Instagram account regarding the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Kiefer has said that she wants to use her VOICE as a young woman athlete to speak up about women’s health and be an advocate for reproductive rights.
More than Medals for Scruggs: Advocacy for Young Black Fencers
Scruggs grew up in Queens, New York, and has a different fencing origin story than Kiefer. She stumbled into fencing at the age of six after her older brother joined a fencing club in Brooklyn. Despite her unexpected entrance into the sport, Scruggs has made a name for herself in fencing, and even won the NCAA Championship for individual fencing this past year.
Scruggs, a rising senior philosophy major at Harvard University, has made it a point to use her platform to inspire young Black girls to get into fencing, as it has become an increasingly inaccessible sport. She also works with the Peter Westbrook Foundation, which offers fencing lessons to children and teens who are members of underrepresented groups. “In certain communities, fencing is just not a sport you do,” Scruggs told NBC News. “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.”
After the bout, Scruggs told the Washington Post that “Fencing has largely certainly been a non-Black sport. I hope that people who look like me, girls who look like me, feel they have a place in this sport. From a young age, I really had to prove myself to get respect.”
Team USA’s Fencing Dominance
Sunday’s match between Kiefer and Scruggs was a testament to the continued growth of fencing in the U.S. From Kiefer defending her title and continuing to pave a dominant career, to Scruggs becoming the first Black woman to win a fencing title for Team USA, these trailblazers will continue to inspire young girls to enter the sport of fencing and be an advocate for other women across the country. And that’s the power of using our VOICE in sport.
