PARIS – Two American women engage in a sword fight at dusk in a palace. Both emerged with Olympic medals.
It was the stage for the women’s foil fencing competition between Lee Kiefer, 30, and Lauren Scruggs, 21, at the Grand Palais in the heart of the French capital, the first all-American fencing final since Beijing in 2008.
In the event, defending champion Kiefer – who was the pre-tournament favorite – retained the gold medal with a 15-6 victory.
“There were a million different obstacles to get to this point,” he later told reporters. “So it’s really fun and exciting to get these things that you can’t predict.”
Scruggs’ silver made her the first black American woman to win an individual fencing medal and the second LGBTQ athlete to take the podium at the Games.
“In some communities, fencing is not a sport you do,” he told NBC News after his bout. “So I would say to people in those communities and people interested in fencing: Do what you love to do … follow your passion.”
He told a news conference that he hopes “more people who look like me feel like they have a place in the game.”
Asked what it would be like to have young black women watching her on a Sunday night, she replied: “It would be sick” — using the positive, slang version of the word.
The scene couldn’t have been more epic.
As the sun set outside, beneath the palace nave was a 150-foot vaulted dome made of 6,000 tons of steel.
A crowd of 6,000 cheered as they watched Kiefer and Scruggs walk down the Art Nouveau staircase together, watched by camera. Finally they entered the auditorium, donning their fencers’ helmets — both adorned with the American flag.
In the first few minutes, Scruggs put up a good fight and scored some points as he battled Kiefer.
But it soon turned into the David and Goliath contest that the form guide predicted. Kiefer was able to defeat Scruggs, scoring 15 points in three overtime periods, each lasting 3 minutes.
Their coaches jeered from the sidelines as they watched their athletes. After the match, their fencers embraced each other on the piste and wore American flags.
Kiefer’s gold joins Mariel Zagunis, who won in 2004 and 2008, as the only women to win multiple fencing gold medals. It will be the first time two Americans have been in a fencing final since Zagunis defeated Sada Jacobsen in the saber final at Beijing 2008.
Now a four-time Olympian, he has established himself as a true giant of the sport. It was a family affair: her husband, her two siblings, and both of her parents were fencers, and her dad was the captain of Duke’s fencing team.
As if it wasn’t enough to become an Olympic champion by the age of 30, he is also a doctor after completing two and a half years of medical school.
For Scruggs, history was already made when she defeated eventual bronze medalist Eleanor Harvey of Canada in the semifinals. Nine years Kiefer’s junior, he is a rising senior at Harvard University, which sent eight fencers to the Olympics this year.
Not content with just training for the Olympics, Scruggs is also a full-time wealth management coach this summer, recounting water-cooler chatter with colleagues who ask after-hours questions about how training is going.
He took up fencing following the example of his older brother, whose mother refused to quit the sport as the family had already bought all the equipment. He went to Columbia University to fence.
Away from the piste, Kiefer and Scruggs took full advantage of their time in Paris. Kiefer went viral on TikTok for trading pins with Steph Curry and Aja Wilson during the opening ceremony.
Meanwhile, Scruggs said in an interview this month that he was excited for the Olympic gear and sightseeing.
“I’m really excited to be here,” he told reporters. “It’s an honor. It’s a privilege.”
Alexander Smith from Paris and Raquel Coronel Uribe from Washington, DC reported.
