Back-to-back! Lexington’s Lee Kiefer repeats as foil fencing gold medalist at Olympics

It’s back-to-back gold medals for Lexington’s Lee Kiefer after she defeated fellow American Lauren Scruggs 15-6 in the women’s individual foil fencing finals at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris on Sunday afternoon.

“I really wanted to put on a good show because my family’s here and they wanted to be there in Tokyo,” she said in an interview on CNBC after her victory. “I just wanted to be able to fence pretty and the results came.”

Kiefer, a 2012 Paul Laurence Dunbar High School graduate who competed in college and won five NCAA championships as a fencer at Notre Dame, reached the gold medal match after defeating Italy’s Alice Volpi 15-10 in the semifinals.

Canada’s Eleanor Harvey defeated Volpi 15-12 for the bronze medal.

A four-time Olympian, the 30-year-old Kiefer first competed in the 2012 London Games, finishing fifth, and later became the first U.S. fencer, male or female, to win a gold medal in foil at the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021.

She’s the third woman to win multiple Olympic gold medals in women’s individual foil, following Italy’s Valentina Vezzali with three and Hungary’s Ilona Elek with two.

ESPN reported that Kiefer said she dedicated her win to Buckie Leach, who coached her to gold in Tokyo but died 20 days later in a motorcycle accident.

“He would be so happy for me,” she said. “This one’s for him. I even have a picture of him on my wall in the village.”

Kiefer’s husband, Gerek Meinhardt, is also competing for Team USA in foil fencing and both are medical students at the University of Kentucky.

“My incredible wife is a back-to-back Olympic champion!!!” Meinhardt posted on social media Sunday. “Words can’t express how proud I am of her... I knew she could do it. She knew she could do it. But actually doing the damn thing, and moreover, doing it two times, in two completely different environments… Just so proud and grateful to be a part of it.”

The 12th-seeded Meinhardt advanced to the round of 16 in men’s individual foil fencing before losing 15-10 to No. 5 seed Enzo Lefort of France on Monday.

There’s still a shot at another medal for Kiefer and her teammates. The women’s team foil fencing competition will take place Thursday.

“We have been working together for the past year just to be prepared for this moment,” she said. “I’m just proud of our effort and I think we’re as ready as we can be.”

Kiefer has not completely ruled out continuing her fencing career after the Paris Games, but it could be the last Olympics of a career that has made her the most decorated female fencer in U.S. history.

“That’s as far as we’re thinking for now,” Kiefer told ESPN, referring to her and her husband’s remaining events in Paris.

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