It was a historic first for U.S. women’s Olympic foil fencing—two Americans facing off in a gold medal match.
In the end, experience won, as Lee Kiefer defeated Queens native Lauren Scruggs 15-6 to capture her second consecutive gold in the event. Scruggs was an unexpected finalist and became the first Black woman to win an individual fencing medal for Team USA. Brooklyn native Erinn Smart (2008 Beijing) and Maplewood, New Jersey-born Ibtihaj Muhammad (2016 Rio), both Black women and alumnae of New York City’s famed Peter Westbrook Foundation fencing program, previously earned team medals.
“I’m definitely more happy than disappointed,” said the 21-year-old Scruggs, who will be senior at Harvard in the upcoming school year and is also a Peter Westbrook Foundation-trained athlete. “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.”
Scruggs, who was inspired to engage in the sport by her older brother, Nolen Scruggs, who fenced for Columbia University, said she still has lofty goals. “I just want to see how good I can be with fencing. Obviously, I’ve made it pretty far with this event, but hopefully, we can shoot for the stars.”
Kiefer, 30, is already a history maker as the first American fencer male or female to win Olympic gold in foil. Now, she joins Mariel Zagunis (women’s saber gold in ‘04 and ’08) as the only American fencers with two individual Olympic gold medals.
“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,” said Kiefer. “Each day was a rollercoaster, but here we are at the top.”
The pursuit of more medals continues for Kiefer and Scruggs today with the women’s foil team event.
Much has been made about there being an equal number of male and female competitors at the Paris Olympics. Indeed it is a reflection of gender equality progress, but the question of how equitable resources are must still be examined. There are 205 delegations participating in Paris. In many cases, female athletes are still struggling for funding, lack media attention and perhaps even have to settle for inferior training facilities.
The U.S. delegation has 594 athletes from 46 states. Among them are high profile female athletes such as WNBA star A’ja Wilson, swimmer Katie Ledecky and gymnast Simone Biles. Fencers largely compete in anonymity, only stepping into the spotlight when they win Olympic medals.
Despite the relatively minimal attention her sport receives, Scruggs noted she is thankful for the exposure afforded her and fencing in general in Paris.
“I’m just super grateful to be able to fence in front of such a big crowd and in such a beautiful space,” she said.