On the day of the women’s foil gold medal match, Lauren Scruggs spent an hour lying in her room thinking about what she was about to do and how she would get there.
Coming into the 2024 Paris Olympics, the 21-year-old from Queens wasn’t expected to win a medal, let alone a gold medal. But match after match, Scruggs overcame tough opponents, including defeating world number one Arianna Errigo of Italy in the eighth round. On Sunday, July 28, Scruggs’s breakthrough earned her a spot in the final against U.S. teammate and reigning Olympic champion Lee Kiefer.
In those final, quiet moments of preparation, the Olympic debutant wasn’t fazed by the pressure or the high stakes. Instead, as she told SELF over a video call from Paris, she was delighted.
“Obviously, we knew we were making history as the first two Americans to stand on this podium, so we just wanted to go out there and enjoy the environment of the Grand Palais and enjoy fencing in front of the U.S. and the world,” Scruggs said.
Later that day, Scruggs won the silver medal in a 15–6 victory over Kiefer at the 124-year-old fencing arena, making Scruggs the first black American woman to win an individual fencing medal at the Olympics. Four days later, the Harvard University senior kept the momentum going by helping the United States win the gold medal in the women’s team foil fencing event, the team’s first gold medal in the event. Outdoor SportsScruggs’ medal brings the number of LGBTQ+ medals won so far in Paris to 24.
A few days after the event, Scruggs said he was still in a bit of shock. She rode on a Team USA boat. It was a surreal moment for her in Paris as she attended her first Opening Ceremony. Introducing Snoop Dogg), representing her country in sports history. Looking back on it all, Scruggs believes that a low-pressure attitude, a sense of gratitude and satisfaction (she came into the tournament already feeling good about her performance in the months leading up to it) helped her excel in ways she never imagined.
“There was no pressure like, ‘Oh, I have to do that,’ I just wanted to have fun and enjoy the experience,” she said. “The Olympics tend to reward people who are fighters. Every single match I tried to fight and put all my energy into it. I think that gave me an edge. I wasn’t worried about the technique. It was the energy I was putting into it.”
For Scruggs, much of her life had been building up to this breakthrough moment. She started playing the sport when she was 7 years old, when her older brother, Nolen, Star WarsShe quickly emerged as a global standout: in 2019, she became the youngest American foil fencer to win the Junior World Fencing Championships, and last year she won the NCAA title with the Crimson.
