PARIS, France — Survive and advance. That applies to Olympic fencing as much as it does to college basketball.
In an all-America final, Notre Dame graduate Lee Kiefer defeated Lauren Scruggs 15-6 Sunday night at the Grand Palais to repeat as women's foil champion.
After a tense opener, Kiefer was dominant thereafter, winning her five matches by a collective 75-42. She became the third woman to win two or more Olympic golds in foil.
The others are Italy’s Valentina Vezzali (2004-08-12) and Hungary’s Ilona Elek (1936-48).
After the winning point, Kiefer tore off her mask in exultation.
Canada’s Eleanor Harvey won the bronze 15-12 over Italy’s Alice Volpi, keeping Europeans off the podium for the first time in Olympic history.
The gold was the second in as many days for Notre Dame, which had swimmer Chris Guiliano on the men's 4x100-meter freestyle relay Saturday night.
Kiefer, 30, of Lexington, Ky., is a four-time NCAA champion for the Fighting Irish and four-time Olympian. She has been on a leave of absence from medical school at the University of Kentucky since the Tokyo Olympics. She is married to Gerek Meinhardt, a five-time Olympian who also was a Notre Dame fencer.
Kiefer was nearly upset in her first match, squandering a 9-1 lead before a 15-13 victory over 31st-seeded Martyna Jelinska, of Poland.
Kiefer subsequently beat China’s Huang Qianqian 15-9, Hungary’s Flora Pasztor 15-4 and the No. 3-seeded Volpi 15-10 in a semifinal.
Scruggs, 21, a Harvard University fencer from Queens, N.Y., became the first Black woman from the United States to win an individual Olympic medal in fencing.
In the round of 16, she won 15-11 over Harvard teammate Jessica Guo, a Canadian who beat Scruggs at this year’s NCAA Championships.
In the round of eight, Scruggs shocked No. 1-ranked Arianna Errigo of Italy 15-14. With the score tied at 14, Scruggs’ potential winning touch was disallowed. In the final 30 seconds, they both lunged for a touch, and Scruggs completed the upset over the 36-year-old Errigo, the 2012 Olympic silver medalist.
In 2021, Kiefer upset defending champion Inna Deriglazova of Russia 15-13 for the gold.
Mariel Zagunis, also a Notre Dame graduate, is the only other American fencer to earn gold, winning women’s saber events at Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008. In Beijing, she beat U.S. teammate Sada Jacobson — the last all-America final until 2024.
Kiefer placed fifth in foil in 2012 and 10th in 2016. As long as 10 years ago, her bronze made her the second U.S. women’s fencer to win a medal at the senior World Championships.
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Her father, Steve, a neurosurgeon, was a fencing captain at Duke. Her older sister, Alex, also a physician, was an NCAA champion at Harvard. Her younger brother, Axel, also of Notre Dame, has competed in junior worlds.
Kiefer’s mother, Teresa, a psychiatrist, was born in the Philippines and immigrated to the United States as a child.
Contact WTHR correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.