Kiefer and Scruggs win Olympic gold and silver in US foil fencing final

PARIS — Two American women prepared for a sword fight at the palace at dusk. Both emerged with Olympic medals.

This, the Grand Palais, in the center of the French capital, was the scene of the women’s fencing clash between Lee Kiefer, 30, and Lauren Scruggs, 21, the first all-American fencing final since Beijing 2008.

In the event, Kiefer – the defending champion and pre-tournament favorite – won 15-6 to retain the gold medal.

“There are a million different obstacles that have happened to get us to this point,” she told reporters afterward. “So going through all these things that you can’t even predict is really cool and fun.”

Scruggs’ silver makes her the first Black American woman to win an individual fencing medal and the second LGBTQ+ athlete to stand on the podium at these Games.

“In certain communities, fencing is just not a sport you do,” she told NBC News after the fight. “So I would say to those people who are in those communities who are interested in fencing: Do what you want… and follow your passion.”

She told a press conference that she hopes “more people who look like me feel like they have a place in sport.”

Asked how she would feel if young black girls were watching her on Sunday night, she replied: “It would be sick” – using a lot of the positive and slang version of the word.

The scene couldn’t have been more epic.

With the sun just setting outside, the fencing course lay beneath the palace’s nave, a 150-foot domed dome supported by 6,000 tons of steel.

The crowd of 6,000 watched and cheered as Kiefer and Scruggs were tracked by camera, descending the sweeping art nouveau staircase together. Finally they entered the auditorium, wearing their fencer helmets – both decorated with the American flag.

In the first few minutes, Scruggs fought well and gained some points in the fight against Kiefer.

But this quickly became the David and Goliath showdown predicted by the form guide. Kiefer managed to defeat Scruggs, scoring 15 points, in the first of three timed periods, each lasting 3 minutes.

Their coaches joked on the sidelines while watching their athletes. And when the game ended, its fencers hugged each other on the track and wrapped themselves in American flags.

Kiefer’s gold means she joins Mariel Zagunis, who won in 2004 and 2008, as the only women to win multiple gold medals in fencing. It is also the first time since Zagunis defeated Sada Jacobson in the 2008 Beijing saber final that two Americans have competed in a fencing final.

Now a four-time Olympian, she has established herself as a true giant of the sport. It’s a family affair: her husband, her two brothers and her parents are all fencers, and her father was the captain of Duke’s fencing team.

As if becoming an Olympic legend at age 30 wasn’t enough, she’s also a doctor, having completed 2 and a half years of medical school.

For Scruggs, history was already made when she defeated Canadian Eleanor Harvey, the eventual bronze medalist, in the semi-final. Nine years younger than Kiefer, she is a senior at Harvard University, which sent eight fencers to the Olympics this year.

Not content with just training for an Olympics, Scruggs is also a full-time wealth management intern this summer, describing water-cooler conversations with coworkers who ask questions about how her after-hours training is going.

She started practicing fencing following the example of her older brother, who her mother refused to let give up the sport because the family had already bought all the equipment. He went on to study fencing at Columbia University.

Off the track, Kiefer and Scruggs were able to make the most of their time in Paris. Kiefer went viral on TikTok for exchanging badges with Steph Curry and A’ja Wilson during the opening ceremony.