PARIS — One was born into the sport; the other wandered her way into it. One is history, the first American to win Olympic gold in foil, a woman who considers it her job to grow her sport; the other is the future, the NCAA foil champion and the benefactor of the road her opponent has paved.
One is a soon-to-be doctor, who fearlessly speaks out about reproductive rights for women. The other is a junior philosophy major at Harvard, who proudly speaks about being a Black woman in a sport not typically reserved for people of color.
On a glorious Sunday evening in Paris, the two American women, Lee Kiefer and Lauren Scruggs, said en guarde beneath the expansive glass dome of the Grand Palais, a stunning monument built for the 1900 World Fair, in the country in which the sport was started by King Louis XIV in the 17th Century, to decide a gold medal.
It was, to say the least, quite the Olympic moment.
Kiefer, older and more experienced, won the gold with ease, 15-5, ripping off her mask in celebration before embracing Scruggs and exchanging high fives.
But the ease of victory does not diminish what happened. Only twice previously in modern Olympic history had Americans captured silver and gold in fencing — once in 2008 in sabre, the other back in 1904. The two shook American flags on the piste as the crowd cheered in appreciation.
This was an American victory wrapped in French spectacle. The Grand Palais stretches more than 250 yards on the Champs-Elysses, a breathtaking piece of architecture, filled with friezes and mosaics. For these Olympics, organizers retrofitted steep stands on either side of the piste, centering the action directly beneath the spectacular dome. Competitors paused at a gilded railing before descending a grand staircase to square off beneath a spotlight that reflected shadows onto the ceiling.
Because the women’s gold-medal match came sandwiched between Frenchman Yannick Borel’s semifinal and gold-medal opportunity, the place was filled to the rafter and practically reverberated with energy.
If the French were offended that two Americans came to lay claim to their sport, they did not show it, greeting Kiefer and Scruggs with boisterous cheers and eruptions throughout the match.
Kiefer was born into the sport, and into as close to a fencing royal family as America could produce. Her father, Steven, was a walk-on at Duke but left as the team captain. He bestowed his love for the sport to his children, teaching them the how-tos in the family dining room. All three fenced — the eldest daughter Alexandra was a national champion at Harvard, Lee at Notre Dame and the youngest son, Axel, for the Fighting Irish as well.
Lee didn’t love it initially, but by age 15 made the national team and at 17, won a world title. Now 30, Lee is married to Gerek Meinhardt, a four-time Olympian and two-time bronze medalist, making them the unofficial first couple of fencing.
Scruggs, in the meantime, merely followed in her older brother’s footsteps, never stopping to consider if she belonged.
Nolen Scruggs liked fencing because he thought it looked like a Star Wars Jedi knight battle, so Lauren decided she liked it too. As a freshman, when her Harvard coach suggested she might have Olympic potential, Scruggs said she didn’t believe him.
That the two met here, in a city caught in the vortex of controversy for its all-inclusive opening ceremony, seemed fitting. Though shy by nature, Kiefer learned to find her voice through fencing. Post Tokyo, she searched for a career path and turned again, to her father’s footsteps. She entered medical school at the University of Kentucky, somehow juggling her educational demands with those of Olympic training. In 2021, she was among 500 athletes to sign an amicus, asking the Supreme Court to uphold abortion rights. When the court reversed Roe v. Wade, Kiefer volunteered at the Kentucky Health Justice Network, a non-profit that provides funding and assistance for women seeking care. She has said she helped shepherd women from Kentucky, which does not allow abortions, to other states.
Scruggs is similarly committed to her convictions. She is well aware that she competes in a sport started for royalty, and not people of color. She is one of just two Black Americans to win a world title, and the only woman. Her start in the sport is thanks in no small part to Peter Westbrook, a Black man and the 1984 bronze medalist in the sabre, whose eponymous foundation has worked to diversify his sport.
Together they brought their voices and their sport to the center stage, crafting a very American moment in Paris.
