PARIS (AP) — Lee Kiefer became the first American fencer to win three Olympic gold medals as the U.S. got its first-ever team fencing gold in women’s foil at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.
The team of two-time individual gold medalist Kiefer, silver medalist Lauren Scruggs, Jacqueline Dubrovich and Maia Weintraub held on for a 45-39 win over Italy in the final.
“A team medal for this Olympic Games was my true dream. I think (in) individual there’s a lot of factors and momentum and luck, but as a team, every bout, we’ve put in so many hours of work together,” Kiefer said.
Tears poured down Kiefer’s face as the U.S. anthem played. The 30-year-old said she had realized 23 years of effort had paid off. “I met my goals in fencing,” she said.
Scruggs faced a late rally from Italy’s Arianna Errigo, who cut an eight-point U.S. lead to three, but the 21-year-old took the next three points to close out the win and celebrated with a shout of delight.
“I just didn’t want to be that person who loses after a big lead,” Scruggs said. “I was like, ‘Oh, man, I can’t lose for my own pride.’ It’s kind of what pushed me forward and made me snap out of it.”
Weintraub, the U.S. team’s alternate, was substituted into the final and immediately faced Italy’s most experienced fencer, the 2012 gold medalist Errigo. That didn’t faze Weintraub, who went 6-4 against Errigo and 11-5 from her two matchups.
“I think fencing is probably 40 or 50 percent mental, and going on to that strip I knew who they were, their results, how they are amazing fencers,” Weintraub said. “But I also had to remind myself that I’m here for a reason, my team is here for a reason, and we’re in the finals for a reason, that we deserve to be there just as much as anybody else.”
The U.S. now has four fencing medals at the Paris Olympics and two gold medals in fencing at the same Olympics for the first time, as well as a first-ever team gold for the U.S.
An American fencer, Albertson Van Zo Post, won two gold medals at the 1904 St. Louis Games but one of those was a team event in which he competed alongside two Cuban fencers. That medal is officially considered a “mixed team” win, not a U.S. gold.
Japan won its first women’s fencing medal of the Paris Olympics with a 33-32 win over Canada in the bronze-medal bout.
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