If it was the last time Lee Kiefer took the competitive piste, it’s hard to imagine a better way to go out. The 30-year-old medical student from Lexington, Kentucky, wrote herself into fencing history on Sunday night, roaring to a second straight Olympic gold medal in the women’s individual foil with a dazzling 15-6 win over younger teammate Lauren Scruggs in a rare all-American final.
Scruggs, the precocious 21-year-old Queens native and rising Harvard senior, made history of her own in defeat, becoming the first Black American fencer to win an individual medal in a women’s event. But the Olympic debutante proved no match for a defending champion driven by a self-belief that comes only with experience.
