LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky fencer Lee Kiefer made history at this year’s Olympics in Paris. She won gold in individual foil and the women’s team foil. Kiefer grew up in Lexington and trained at the Louisville Fencing Center.
Dawn Wilson is the Louisville Fencing Center’s head coach. She has been there for 20 years and observed Kiefer’s training when she was a child.
“She was really fiery then,” Wilson said. “She was really committed.”
Kiefer has competed in the Olympics since 2012 and won her first gold medal in individual foil at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
“For me, it’s a great honor to see somebody I’ve watched time and time again do her best,” Wilson said.
At this year’s Olympics, Kiefer won gold in individual foil again and was part of the women’s foil team that also won gold. She is now the first American fencer to have won three gold medals.
“Once that mask comes down, she’s all business and at the end, she hugged her and I was like, ‘That’s the Lee that we all know,’” said Wilson in response to Kiefer winning gold for individual foil.
Young fencers, like Reagan Redemann, look up to Kiefer. Redemann trains at the Louisville Fencing Center and has met Kiefer. There are some lessons that Redemann took away from watching Kiefer’s recent match.
“I saw her backing up and then just doing a full explosive lunge and I think that’s what I’m gonna try doing in the couple tournaments that are coming up,” Redemann said.
For Wilson, seeing Kiefer and Lauren Scruggs, a Black fencer for Team USA, win gold and silver for individual foil meant a lot.
“The fact that I see two women of color holding up our American flag… that should have brought everybody together,” Wilson said. “I know where I was at. We were screaming.”
Scruggs was also part of the foil team that made history as America’s first women’s team to win gold in that event. Scruggs also made history as the first African American female fencer to get an individual medal for the U.S.