Harvard University fencer Lauren Scruggs had an incredible Olympic debut in Paris, taking the silver medal in the women's foil to make history as the first Black fencer to win an Olympic medal in an individual women's event for the United States.
The 21-year-old, from Queens, New York, lost 15-6 in the gold medal bout to her teammate, Lee Kiefer, who has now won back-to-back gold medals in foil fencing.
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"Just ecstatic. I thought I was gonna lose my first bout so to get all the way to the finals is just insane. I keep thinking it's like a dream, when I was getting ready, I was like this is unreal, I can't believe it's happening right now," Scruggs said. "All of the Harvard fencing team, my coach Daria [Schneider] is here, so you know I can hear her voice in the stands, but everyone back home in Boston, at Harvard you know, they're sending me good luck and support, so thank you everyone."
Harvard Fencing and Athletics congratulated Scruggs on social media Sunday, saying she's just the second fencer in women's program history to medal at the Olympic Games.
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To get to the final bout, Scruggs first defeated Singapore's Amita Berthier 15-13 in the round of 32. Next she faced off against her Crimson teammate, Jessica Zi Jia Guo, and won 15-11 to advance to the quarterfinals where she beat World No. 1 Arianna Errigo, of Italy, in dramatic fashion.
Errigo tied the match 14-14 after a potential winning touch from Scruggs was not counted. In the last 30 seconds of the final bout, Errigo and Scruggs both lunged for a touch, and Scruggs won in an upset, ending Errigo's bid to defend her Olympic silver medal from Tokyo.
Scruggs advanced to the semifinals where she defeated Canada's Eleanor Harvey to move onto the gold medal round, ultimately losing to Kiefer.
“I’m definitely more happy than disappointed,” Scruggs said. “I think that it was shocking for me to be here in the first place, so I don’t even think I’ve had time to process losing, if I’m being honest. Just shocking and just super grateful.”
There hadn’t been an all-U.S. final in an Olympic fencing event since 2008, when Zagunis beat Sada Jacobson in saber as part of an American podium sweep. Before that, the last time it happened was in 1904.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
