Lexington’s Lee Kiefer makes history with Olympic gold medal in fencing
Lexington’s Lee Kiefer earned the third gold medal for the United States at the Tokyo Olympics by beating defending champion Inna Deriglazova of Russia 15-13 in the women’s foil finals.
The 27-year-old is the first American woman to win a gold medal in individual foil.
Kiefer, who attended Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, was a four-time NCAA champion at Notre Dame. She ripped off her mask after the final point and shouted, “Oh my God!”
She had placed fifth at the 2012 London Games and was 10th at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
It’s the third Olympic gold for the U.S. women’s fencing team. Mariel Zagunis won in saber at the 2004 and 2008 Games.
Kiefer is also a medical student at the University of Kentucky. Her husband, Gerek Meinhardt, won bronze with the U.S. team in foil at the 2016 Olympics, and he’s competing in the Tokyo Games, too.
“It’s such an incredible feeling that I share with my coach, I share with my husband, with my family, just everyone that’s been a part of this,” she said, her gold medal hanging from her neck. “I wish I could chop it up in little pieces and distribute it to everyone I love.”
Kiefer added, according to USA Fencing, “This whole day, they’ve been there and I think they literally won bouts for me by being like, ‘Believe! Be confident!’ That’s what it takes at the Olympics and they did it for me.”
During last year’s COVID-19 shutdown, Kiefer and her husband could count on each other for a training partner.
“My husband and I built a fencing strip in my parents’ basement,” Kiefer said last month. “We would train there a few times a week. Just try to maintain some of our skills a little bit until, we hoped, the world would open back up … and the Olympics would happen.”
Meinhardt was on hand to congratulate her.
He later tweeted: “My wife just made my #Olympics dream complete @leetothekiefer GOLD … Words can’t describe how bad she wanted this, how hard she worked, or how proud of her I am.”
Of winning a gold medal in her third Olympics, Kiefer told USA Fencing: “It’s really the whole journey. Before I left, my dad wrote me a card and he said that we’ve been on this journey. We’ve done our best and our pot of gold has been filled the whole time as we move along, and so just being here is just icing on top, but I just feel so much love and I just have so much to give back to everyone.”
Larisa Korobeynikova of Russia defeated Alice Volpi of Italy 15-14 in the bronze medal match.
Romain Cannone won France’s first gold medal of the Tokyo Games moments later, beating Gergely Siklosi of Hungary 15-10 in the men’s epee finals.
Cannone led 14-9 after two periods in the first-to-15 match and ended it quickly in the third. The 24-year-old Cannone was born in France but grew up in the United States and attended Sacred Heart University. He returned to France in 2016 to boost his chances of qualifying for the 2020 Olympics.
Igor Reizlin of Ukraine won the bronze with a 15-12 victory over Andrea Santarelli of Italy.
This story was originally published July 25, 2021 at 8:22 AM.