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Lee Kiefer made history at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo on Sunday, becoming the first American fencer to ever win Olympic gold in individual foil.
Team USA tweeted the news following Kiefer's landmark victory:
Kiefer won a tightly contested battle to take gold, outlasting Inna Deriglazova of the Russian Olympic Committee 15-13 in the gold-medal match.
The 27-year-old Kiefer is a Cleveland native who is competing in her third Olympic Games. She failed to medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London (placed fifth) and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro (10th).
Kiefer entered the 2021 Olympics as a strong candidate to medal, however, after finishing second in women's individual foil at the FIE Grand Prix in Turin, Italy, in 2020 and finishing third in the event at the Fencing World Cup in Katowice, Poland, last year.
A four-time NCAA champion at Notre Dame, Kiefer finally broke through for Team USA after many close calls for the Americans over the years.
American men have won Olympic silver in the individual foil three times, with the most recent instance happening at the 2016 Summer Olympics when Alexander Massialas fell to Italy's Daniele Garozzo in the gold-medal match.
As for the American women, Kiefer is the first to win an Olympic medal of any kind in the individual foil event.
To take gold, Kiefer had to defeat one of the most prolific fencers in the world in Deriglazova.
Deriglazova is now a three-time Olympic medalist, taking silver in the team foil in 2012, gold in individual foil in 2016 and silver in individual foil this year.
She is also a three-time gold medalist in individual foil at the Fencing World Championships, and she won gold last year at the World Cup and this year at the Grand Prix in Doha, Qatar.
With Kiefer's triumph, Team USA has now won four gold medals at the 2021 Summer Olympics thus far.
U.S. Olympic fencer Alen Hadzic, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by three women and is under investigation, will not be allowed to stay at the Olympic Village with his teammates after losing an appeal Thursday, per Josh Peter of USA Today.
An arbitrator upheld the decision of USA Fencing, which said it was preventing Hadzic from staying at the Olympic Village as part of a "safety plan."
"The process was properly followed," United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee spokesperson Jon Mason said. "The athletes had the opportunity to be heard, and we are satisfied with the decision."
The arbitrator determined Hadzic, who has been staying at a hotel 30 minutes from the Olympic Village, could get a hotel room closer to the training center ahead of the Tokyo Games.
In May, three women accused Hadzic of sexual misconduct from 2013-15 to the U.S. Center for SafeSport, which temporarily suspended the Olympic hopeful June 2. He has denied the accusations.
"Frankly, they're untruths," Hadzic told Peter and colleague Christine Brennan. "They're just frankly not true."
That suspension was overturned by an arbitrator June 28, allowing Hadzic to compete at the Games.
"I find that the 'temporary suspension' is inappropriate to the allegations," Judge Sherrie L. Krauser ruled. "Specifically, I find that the lack of any allegation of misconduct in the past two years, the continuing probation supervision of USA Fencing and the strict regulation of members of the U.S. Olympic team provide sufficient guarantees to the 'safety or well-being' of others to lift the temporary suspension."
But U.S. fencer Katharine "Kat" Holmes reportedly had electronic signatures from every athlete on USA Fencing saying they did not feel Hadzic should be allowed to compete in Tokyo.
USA Fencing placed restrictions on Hadzic, including not allowing him to stay in the Olympic Village.
"I think one case is enough for you to not be allowed to compete at the f--king Olympics," one of the women who accused Hadzic of sexual misconduct told Peter and Brennan. "It really makes you question how far someone needs to go in order for them not to be able to compete."
