Fil-Am fencer Lee Kiefer cops second Olympic gold medal

Filipino-American fencer Lee Kiefer defended her title after ruling the women's individual foil against her US teammate Lauren Scruggs, 15-6, in the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday (early Monday in the Philippines) at the Grand Palais.

The 30-year-old Kiefer, who also reigned supreme in the same event three years ago in Tokyo Olympics, is of Filipino heritage with her mother, Teresa, tracing her roots to Tagum City in Davao before immigrating to the States.

The second-seeded and world no. 1 Kiefer dominated the whole tournament. After earning a bye in the Table of 64, she eked out a 15-13 victory against Martyna Jelinska of Poland to set up a Table of 16 clash with Chinese foe Qianqian Huang, whom she beat with a 15-9 victory

She then defeated Flora Pasztor of Hungary in the Round of 8 and Italy's Alice Volpi in the semis to reach the final round opposite her compatriot and 21-year-old Olympic debutant Scruggs to complete her title defense.

"I'm still stunned,” Kiefer said in an interview with Olympics.com.

“I don't realise it happened just because it's been such a long day with a lot of highs and lows. But here we are making history, it's awesome. Thank you to all my loved ones who are cheering Stateside, all my loved ones who are here, this is for you.”

—JMB, GMA Integrated News