American fencers Lee Kiefer and Lauren Scruggs made Olympic history — both on their own and together — at the women’s individual foil fencing event on Sunday.
Kiefer, 30, from Lexington, K.Y., took gold in foil for a second Olympics in a row after defeating Scruggs 15-6. The win made Kiefer the first American woman to earn two Olympic gold medals in individual foil.
Meanwhile, Scruggs, a 21-year-old Harvard student from Queens, N.Y., finished with her first medal — silver — in her Olympic debut. She also became the first Black fencer to win an Olympic medal for the U.S. in an individual women’s event, the Associated Press reported.
Together, it was the first time in Olympic history that two American women were medaled on the same podium in women’s individual foil fencing. The last time U.S. fencers shared the podium was during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing in women’s individual saber.