Tokyo Olympics: Filipino American fencer wins gold

 

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

Lee Kiefer with her historic Olympic gold medal.

UPDATED: July 26, 1:120 a.m.

Lee Kiefer became the first American woman to win a gold medal in the women's individual foil event and earned Team USA's first fencing medal of the Tokyo games. She defeated reigning Olympic champion Inna Deriglazova 15-13 to capture her first career Olympic medal after finishing fifth in London and 10th in Rio.

To win her gold medal, the 27-year old Filipino American, a medical student at the University of Kentucky, Kiefer went 5-0 in her matches. 

She won 15-4 over Singapore’s Arnita Berthier; 15-13 over Canada’s Eleanor Harvey, 15-11 over Japan’s Yuka Ueno; 15-6 over Russia’s Larisa Korobeynikova; 15-13 over Deriglazova in the gold medal match.

In the final point of the gold medal match, Deriglazova, knowing she was behind, was aggressive, charging at Kiefer, targeting Kiefer's chest. The Filipino American took a lunged forward going low making herself a smaller target and brought her foil upwards to score from below.

Watch the entire match below:

After the final point, Kiefer ripped off her mask and shouted "Oh my God!"

"What just happened? What just happened?"

After hugging her long-time coach Amgad Khazbak, she looked for her husband, Gerek Meinhardt, who is also an Olympic fencer competing in the men's foil. He was nearby.

“It was incredible,’’ Meinhardt said. “I know how hard she works every day, how much she wants it, how important a part of our lives fencing is.’’

Kiefer, a graduate of Notre Dame is a member of the Bluegrass Fencers' Club in Lexington, Kentucky, is a four-time NCAA champion and a nine-time individual Pan American champion.

"What just happened?' yelled Lee Kiefer after winning a gold medal in foil fencing.

Born in Cleveland and raised in Lexington, Kiefer grew up on the fencing ramp with her family. Her father, Steve, was a fencing captain at Duke. Her older sister, Alex, was an NCAA champion at Harvard. Her younger brother, Axel, has competed in the junior worlds. Kiefer said she was inspired by her father, now a neurosurgeon.

"Before I left, my dad wrote me a card, and he said that we have been on this journey. We have done our best and our pot of gold has been filled all along as we moved along and just being here is the icing on top," she told the Indianapolis Star.

"I just feel so much love and I have so much to give back to everyone. My dad pushed me from the beginning. We used to bump heads all the time because we are both so competitive and demand excellence, but here we are. Thank you, dad."

Kiefer’s mother, Teresa, is from the Philippines and a psychiatrist. The fencer joins a handful of prominent Filipino American Olympic medal winners, including diver Victoria Manolo Draves, figure skater Tai Babilonia, gymnast Kyla Ross and speed skater J.R. Celski.

Lee Kiefer celebrates after winning her final match.