PARIS — Two American ladies squared up for a sword combat within the palace at nightfall. Each emerged with Olympic medals.

This, the Grand Palais within the middle of the French capital, was the stage for the ladies’s foil fencing matchup between Lee Kiefer, 30, and Lauren Scruggs, 21, the primary all-American fencing last since Beijing 2008.

Within the occasion, Kiefer — the defending champion and pre-tournament favourite — received 15-6 to retain the gold medal.

“There’s 1,000,000 completely different obstacles that occurred to make it so far,” she advised reporters afterward. “So getting by all this stuff that you could’t even predict is simply freaking cool and enjoyable.”

Scruggs’ silver makes her the primary Black American lady to win a person fencing medal and the second out LGBTQ athlete to get on the rostrum at these Video games.

“In sure communities, fencing is simply not a sport you do,” she advised NBC Information after her bout. “So I’d say to these individuals, who’re in these communities and who’re considering fencing: Do what you need to do … and comply with your ardour.”

She mentioned at a information convention that she hoped “extra individuals who appear like me really feel as if they’ve a spot within the sport.”

Requested how it might really feel if younger Black ladies had been watching her Sunday night time, she responded: “It will be sick” — very a lot utilizing the optimistic, slang model of the phrase.

The scene couldn’t have been any extra epic.

With the solar having solely simply set exterior, the fencing piste lay beneath the palace nave, a 150-foot vaulted dome held up by 6,000 tons of metal.

The group of 6,000 watched and whooped as Kiefer and Scruggs had been tracked by digicam, strolling collectively down the sweeping artwork nouveau staircase. Lastly they emerged into the auditorium, donning their fencers’ helmets — each adorned with the American flag.

Within the first couple of minutes, Scruggs put up an excellent combat and took a number of factors as she battled Kiefer.

However this shortly grew to become the David and Goliath match-up that the shape information predicted. Kiefer was capable of defeat Scruggs, getting 15 factors, inside the primary of three timed intervals, every lasting 3 minutes.

Their coaches bantered from the sidelines as they watched their athletes. And when the sport was over, their fencers embraced one another on the piste and swaddled themselves in American flags.

Kiefer’s gold means she joins Mariel Zagunis, who received in 2004 and 2008, as the one lady to win a number of fencing gold medals. It’s additionally the primary time since Zagunis defeated Sada Jacobson within the saber last of Beijing 2008 that two Individuals had been in a fencing last.

Now a four-time Olympian, she has cemented herself as a real large of the game. It’s a household affair: Her husband, her two siblings and each her mother and father are all fencers, and her dad was the captain of Duke’s fencing group.

As if changing into an Olympic legend by age 30 wasn’t sufficient, she can be a physician, having accomplished 2½ years of medical faculty.

For Scruggs, historical past was already made when she beat eventual bronze medalist Eleanor Harvey of Canada in a semifinal. 9 years Kiefer’s junior, she is a rising senior at Harvard College, which despatched eight fencers to the Olympics this 12 months.

Not content material with merely coaching for an Olympics, Scruggs can be a full-time wealth administration intern this summer season, describing the water cooler speak with co-workers who ask questions of how her after-hours coaching goes.

She bought into fencing following the instance of her older brother, whom their mother refused to let stop the game as a result of the household had already purchased all of the tools. He went on to fence for Columbia College.

Away from the piste, Kiefer and Scruggs have managed to take full benefit of their time in Paris. Kiefer went viral on TikTok for buying and selling pins with Steph Curry and A’ja Wilson through the opening ceremony.

Scruggs, in the meantime, mentioned in an interview this month that she was most excited for the Olympic gear and the sightseeing.

“I’m simply tremendous excited to be right here,” she advised reporters. “It’s been an honor. It’s a privilege.”

Alexander Smith reported from Paris and Raquel Coronell Uribe from Washington, D.C.

PARIS — Lee Kiefer received back-to-back gold medals in foil fencing and her teammate Lauren Scruggs took the silver Sunday to make historical past as the primary Black fencer to win an Olympic medal in a person ladies’s occasion for america.

Kiefer received 15-6 within the closing in opposition to Scruggs and celebrated by joyfully pirouetting down the piste. Figuring out the U.S. anthem would play after the ultimate it doesn’t matter what “took the strain off,” Kiefer stated.

The vocal crowd within the cavernous Grand Palais was an enormous distinction to the hushed, empty venue in Chiba, Japan, the place Kiefer received her first Olympic gold three years in the past underneath pandemic restrictions.

Kiefer devoted her win to Buckie Leach, who coached her to gold in Tokyo however died 20 days later in a bike accident. “He can be so completely happy for me,” she stated. “This one’s for him. I actually have a image of him on my wall within the village.”

Kiefer’s gold medal is the fifth in a person occasion for a U.S. fencer. She follows Mariel Zagunis in 2004 and 2008 as the one American fencers to win gold in the identical occasion twice.

“Mariel, who did it earlier than me, she has been supporting me and being a very vital particular person to maintain me feeling vital and seen and empowered these previous years, so I actually wish to thank her for being that particular person,” Kiefer stated.

There hadn’t been an all-U.S. closing in an Olympic fencing occasion since 2008, when Zagunis beat Sada Jacobson in saber as a part of an American podium sweep. Earlier than that, the final time it occurred was in 1904.

“I am positively extra completely happy than upset,” Scruggs stated. “I feel that it was surprising for me to be right here within the first place, so I do not even suppose I’ve had time to course of shedding, if I am being sincere. Simply surprising and simply tremendous grateful.”

It continues a speedy rise to the highest of world fencing for Scruggs, a 21-year-old Harvard scholar from Queens, New York.

“Perhaps two years in the past, I actually thought I may make the group, till final yr, I made my first senior group,” she stated. “So to come back out right here and medal is simply insane.”

Scruggs stated she desires to encourage younger Black fencers and present “that they’ve a spot within the sport.”

Kiefer is a part of a adorned Olympic energy couple.

Kiefer’s husband, Gerek Meinhardt, is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist in males’s foil who will compete in two occasions in Paris. Kiefer and Meinhardt are medical college students on the College of Kentucky who’ve taken go away from their research to pursue their Olympic goals.

Requested about her future, Kiefer reeled off her and Meinhardt’s remaining occasions in Paris. “That is so far as we’re considering for now,” she stated.

Eleanor Harvey grew to become the primary Canadian to win an Olympic fencing medal when she beat Alice Volpi of Italy 15-12 for the bronze.

Additionally Sunday, Japan’s Koki Kano beat France’s Yannick Borel 15-9 for the lads’s epee gold medal. It was Japan’s first gold in a person Olympic fencing occasion.

The vocal dwelling crowd needed to accept silver for the second day in a row after Auriane Mallo-Breton misplaced within the ladies’s epee closing Saturday.

Mohamed Elsayed received the bronze for Egypt 8-7 in time beyond regulation in opposition to Hungary’s Tibor Andrasfi.

NANTERRE, France (AP) — For Nic Fink, this was a very long time coming.

Which solely made it sweeter.

The 31-year-old swimmer, who splits time on the pool with a full-time engineering job, claimed the primary Olympic medal of his late-blooming profession Sunday night time.

Fink tied for the silver medal within the 100-meter breaststroke with British nice Adam Peaty, simply two-hundredths of a second behind winner Nicolo Martinenghi of Italy.

For some, coming that near the highest step on the rostrum can be gut-wrenching. Not so for Fink. Not in spite of everything he’s been by.

In his first two journeys to the U.S. trials, he did not make the Olympic crew. In 2021, he lastly broke by solely to complete fifth within the 200 breaststroke on the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Video games.

Now, lastly, he has a long-sought piece of {hardware}.

“Yeah, age is only a quantity in some sense,” Fink mentioned. “However in one other sense, it means extra at the moment, particularly as a result of there have been positively home windows to shut my profession earlier and I form of saved going for the love of the game. To have this a lot success this late has been icing on the cake and plenty of enjoyable.”

Fink has already gotten began on the subsequent section of his life.

He works for Quanta Utility Engineering Providers, clocking in remotely from his dwelling in Dallas. Some main multitasking expertise are required, however Fink and people round him — from his coaches the place he trains at SMU to his engineering colleagues — make it work.

If that’s not sufficient, Fink and his spouse, former Olympic swimmer Melanie Margalis Fink, expect the couple’s first baby in September.

When Fink earned a spot on the U.S. crew on the trials within the Indianapolis final month, he memorably made a rocking movement to his spouse cheering within the stands. However, with the due date lower than two months away, she wasn’t capable of journey to Paris.

“The physician was like, ‘Yeah, we’re truly actually form of shut for any journey, not to mention worldwide journey,’” Fink mentioned. “I do know she’s right here with me in spirit. Yeah, I’m bummed she will’t be right here, however it’s for the very best of causes.”

He seemed like a nervous father-to-be as he talked about his spouse watching his thriller of a race again dwelling.

“I feel she in all probability acquired her coronary heart fee up as a lot as I did,” Fink mentioned. “I’m hoping she’s capable of chill out just a little bit and keep hydrated and lay down as a result of she was in all probability leaping up and down.”

Peaty was the two-time reigning gold medalist on this occasion. Fink was thrilled to share a spot on the rostrum with one of many best breaststrokers in historical past.

“He’s a legend within the sport,” he mentioned. “And to see Nicolo there as nicely, it’s actually enjoyable. We’ve been racing collectively for fairly some time, it looks as if. So it’s actually cool to share the rostrum with all these guys.”

With all that’s happening his life, it will absolutely be the ultimate Olympics for Fink.

But when it appears a bit overwhelming, suppose once more. This can be a man who is aware of about balancing acts.

And persistence.

“It’s simply getting higher and higher,” Fink mentioned. “To have this sort of success at this meet, swimming for one thing that I’ve devoted so lengthy of my profession to, it’s actually cool. And for that to form of lead into one thing else, that’s additionally actually cool.”

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AP Summer season Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Is Morris County USA Swimming’s new Olympic Titletown?

About 24 hours after Jack Alexy of Mendham helped the U.S. win gold within the 400-meter freestyle relay, Nic Fink tied for silver Sunday in an exhilarating 100-meter breaststroke last in Paris.

Fink completed equal to two-time defending champion Adam Peaty from Nice Britain at 59.05 seconds, each simply two hundredths of a second behind gold medalist Nicolo Martinenghi of Italy. Fink and Peaty acquired their silver medals from Princess Anne of Nice Britain whereas standing collectively on the rostrum, to Martinenghi’s proper.

Following the Italian nationwide anthem, the bleached-blonde Martinenghi invited Fink and Peaty onto the highest step and posed for a selfie – which Fink confirmed to the tv cameras.

Fink, 31, is the oldest first-time USA Swimming Olympic medalist since Edgar Adams earned silver in 1904.

“It’s only a quantity in some sense however in one other sense, it means extra,” Fink, a USA Swimming co-captain, mentioned in a press launch. “There have been home windows to shut my profession earlier, and I saved going for the love of the game. To have this a lot success this late (in life) has been icing on the cake and a variety of enjoyable. Greater than something, it’s been enjoyable.”

The reigning world champion within the 100 breast, Fink was fourth after the semis, with Peaty the No. 1 seed going into the ultimate at Paris La Défense Area.

An extended highway from Pingry to Paris Olympics

Fink is the veteran amongst USA Swimming’s “Jersey Boys” − the contingent of prime American swimmers that despatched three opponents on the Summer time Video games and thus far has two medals to rejoice. Matt Fallon of Warren can also be competing within the breaststroke in Paris.

A graduate of The Pingry Faculty in Basking Ridge, Fink has amassed an extended checklist of accolades: He is a 19-time All-American and four-time Southeastern Convention 100 breaststroke champion on the College of Georgia. A five-time world champion within the breaststroke, he has been a part of Crew USA since 2013.

“To not less than stroll away with some {hardware} and assist add extra medals on the desk for Crew USA is an honor,” Fink mentioned. “It’s actually nice to have a group right here who will make it easier to and assist make a distinction.”

He failed to succeed in the 2012 or 2016 Video games however was fifth within the 200-meter breaststroke on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, which have been held a 12 months late due to the COVID pandemic.

Extra:USA Swimming’s ‘Jersey Boys’ able to tackle the world at 2024 Olympics

At PIngry, Fink was a two-time Swimmer of the 12 months and the Somerset County Scholar-Athlete of the 12 months as a senior in 2011, Fink set the state highschool report whereas successful the 100-yard breast on the NJSIAA Meet of Champions. He swam breaststroke on the meet-record medley relay group and anchored the record-setting 200 and 400 freestyle relays.

He earned a grasp’s in electrical and laptop engineering from Georgia Tech after competing in Tokyo, and now works remotely as an assistant venture supervisor for Atlanta-based Quanta Utility Engineering Companies. Fink introduced his work laptop computer alongside to coaching camp and has been monitoring ongoing work and connecting together with his colleagues between practices.

Fink and his spouse, 2016 Olympic gold medal swimmer Melanie Margalis Fink, dwell in Dallas and predict their first little one – a boy – in mid-September. He trains at Southern Methodist College, the place she is an assistant ladies’s coach.

“The automobile was weighed once more on the FIA inside and outdoors scales and the burden was 796.5 kg. The calibration of the inside and outside scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor.

“As that is 1.5 kg beneath the minimal weight requested in TR Article 4.1, which additionally needs to be revered always in the course of the competitors, I’m referring this matter to the stewards for his or her consideration.”

After being referred to the stewards, it was confirmed that Russell had been disqualified from the race. As such, Hamilton is promoted to P1, whereas Oscar Piastri now takes P2 and Charles Leclerc strikes as much as P3.

A doc launched following the stewards’ listening to acknowledged: “Throughout the listening to the staff consultant confirmed that the measurement is right and that each one required procedures have been carried out accurately. The staff additionally acknowledged that there have been no mitigating circumstances and that it was a real error by the staff.

“The stewards decide that Article 4.1 of the FIA Components 1 Technical Rules
has been breached and due to this fact the usual penalty for such an infringement
must be utilized.”