Lee Kiefer has made history as the first American fencer to secure three Olympic gold medals, leading the US to its inaugural team fencing gold in women’s foil at the Paris Games on Thursday.
The squad, featuring two-time individual gold medalist Kiefer, silver medalist Lauren Scruggs, along with Jacqueline Dubrovich and Maia Weintraub, triumphed over Italy with a final score of 45-39.
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Scruggs encountered a late surge from Italy’s Arianna Errigo, narrowing the eight-point US lead to three, but the 21-year-old quickly regained control, securing the next three points to clinch the victory with a shout of joy.
Weintraub, the alternate for the US team, stepped into the final match and faced Italy’s most seasoned fencer, 2012 gold medalist Errigo. Nevertheless, Weintraub rose to the challenge, posting a 6-4 record against Errigo and an overall 11-5 in her two bouts.
Earlier, Kiefer reversed her fortunes in the semi-final against Canada, with a cumulative score of 23-12 over her three encounters, including a commanding 13-4 against 16-year-old Yunjia Zhang, despite the US being four points down at one stage. The US ultimately won that match 45-39.
The US has secured four fencing medals at the Paris Olympics and claimed two golds in fencing at the same Games for the first time, marking an unprecedented team gold for the nation.
While Albertson Van Zo Post, an American fencer, won two gold medals at the 1904 St. Louis Games, one of those was in a team event alongside two Cuban fencers, which is officially classified as a “mixed team” victory, not as a US gold.
