PARIS — It was Lauren Scruggs’ job to anchor the U.S. team, to score a few more points, but she was struggling. Glancing off to the side, she could see her teammates watching, worried.
Man, she thought, I don’t want to be that person.
The person who lets a big lead slip away. The person who blows her country’s first chance at gold in a team fencing event.
“Yeah, I was super stressed,” Scruggs said. “It would suck to lose that way, you know?”
The first-time Olympian dug a little deeper, scored a few more touches and made history at the 2024 Paris Games. Not only did she secure the title in women’s team foil, she also helped teammate Lee Kiefer earn a record third career gold, most ever for an American fencer.
To accomplish all that, the U.S. squad had to defeat top-ranked Italy in the final. The same Italy that kept them off the podium in Tokyo three years ago.
“I felt like we were so much more prepared,” Kiefer said. “We were a lot more calm.”
The Italians brought a team stacked with Martina Favaretto, Arianna Errigo and Alice Volpi, all in the top five of the world rankings. Errigo said: “We wanted to come here with the dream of winning gold.”
But the U.S. women have been growing stronger and stronger on the international scene. Going into the final few days of fencing in Paris, they have already won a national record four medals and two golds.
Top-ranked Kiefer and fourth-ranked Scruggs are a big part of that ascendance, finishing one-two in the individual foil event here. Veteran Jacqueline Dubrovich joined them to begin the team match and helped the Americans get off to a fast start.
At a key point in the match — which consists of nine rounds of three minutes each, first to 45 touches wins — Maia Weintraub replaced Dubrovich and provided two strong rounds.
The final round pitted Scruggs against Errigo, who forged a late run, cutting the U.S. lead from eight points to three.
“Potentially she got a little bit nervous,” coach Ralf Bissdorf said of Scruggs. Gesturing from the sideline, he tried “calming her down a little bit.”
Scruggs put it this way: “I think I came in with a little too much heat, not a lot of thinking.”
With the Italian fans cheering and chanting, she could have panicked. But Scruggs has always considered herself a fighter and used the pressure to help get focused.
With a little more patience, she found her rhythm and created more chances to attack. That led to three consecutive touches and a 45-39 victory.
In the heat of the moment, she was not that person.
