Who Is Lee Kiefer? US Med Student Wins Gold In Fencing At Olympics, Again

Imagine visiting a doctor and seeing two Olympic gold medals displayed beside their degree. That could be the story of Lee Kiefer, a medical student who just won her second gold medal in individual fencing at the Games. The USA athlete had previously won gold at the Tokyo Olympics 2024. In Paris, Kiefer won 15-6 against Lauren Scruggs, another academically brilliant champion fencer from the USA. Kiefer remarked after her win that knowing the American national anthem would play regardless of who wins "took the pressure off."

Who Is Lee Kiefer?

Lee Kiefer is a right-handed foil fencer who started her journey in the sport at the age of six. Her mother is a Filipino immigrant, who is a psychiatrist, and her father is a neurosurgeon, who was an avid fencer himself during his college days. Kiefer graduated from the prestigious University of Notre Dame in 2017.

The 30-year-old Olympian is now a student at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. Her sister, Alex Kiefer, is also a Harvard graduate doctor and a 2011 National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) foil fencing champion Alex Kiefer. Acing athletics and academics runs in the blood of the Kiefer family.

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Lee Kiefer won a bronze medal in women's foil at the 2011 World Fencing Championships. At the London Olympics in 2012, she placed fifth after losing to eventual silver medalist Arianna Errigo of Italy in the quarter-final, 15–10. She eventually prevailed over Errigo at the Algiers World Cup in early 2015.

At the 2014 NCAA Fencing National Championships, Kiefer joined (her now husband) fencer Gerek Meinhardt and swimmer Emma Reaney as part of the second Notre Dame Fighting Irish trio to be named individual national champion in a single year. (Fourth to be an individual national athlete of a single year.)

In March 2017, she became World #1 after winning the Long Beach Grand Prix. She was the first American woman fencer to reach the top. At the Tokyo Olympics 2020, Kiefer defeated Russia's Inna Deriglazova to become the first American, male or female, to win the gold medal in Olympic individual foil.