By Forum Staff
By Thursday, Ozone Park resident Lauren Scruggs had already etched her name in the history books, becoming the first Black woman to win an Olympic fencing medal when she snatched the silver in the individual fencing event last Sunday at the Paris summer games.
But she wanted more.
Scruggs and Team USA bested Italy on Thursday to earn a first-ever team gold medal in fencing.
“Fencing has largely, historically been a non-Black sport,” Scruggs, 21, said. “So I hope to inspire young Black girls to get into fencing and to think that they can have a place in the sport. I just hope that more people who look like me, little girls like me, feel they have a place in the sport.”
According to the NCAA, the Harvard student’s journey to this historic achievement began at the age of 7, inspired by her brother Nolen’s love for “Star Wars” and their mother’s encouragement to stick with fencing after she had paid for the equipment. Her commitment to the sport grew as she excelled. She won the 2019 and 2022 Junior World Fencing Championships in foil and the 2023 NCAA title.
In Paris, Scruggs said she leaned into her college fencing experience to make fencing history.
“Just the intensity … NCAA fencing requires a lot of heart. I was able to tap into some of that today,” she said after winning the silver medal.
Scruggs also noted that she was grateful for her upbringing in The World’s Borough, which instilled in her the confidence and toughness required to succeed at the highest levels of competition. All of it was needed as she successfully navigated the Olympic individual foil bracket.
“I feel like you have to be super confident, just how you go about life there,” Scruggs said. “So I think I kind of brought some of that with me today. For each match, I locked in with my headphones and listened to my music and got super pumped. I was yelling at myself before I got on guard every touch. So just bring the energy has just always been something integral to my life.”
Ranked 11th in the International Fencing Federation’s world rankings, she began her journey to silver with a hard-fought 15-13 victory against Singapore’s Amita Berthier in the round of 32. Her next bout was a familiar face-off against her Harvard teammate, Jessica Zi Jia Guo of Canada, a rematch of the 2024 NCAA women’s foil final that Guo won. This time, Scruggs triumphed over Guo 15-11.
“Everyone was like, if you’re going to do it, this would be the perfect time to do it,” Scruggs said. “I guess that’s kind of what happened. I think I picked the right time to really lock in.”
However, Scruggs would eventually drop the individual gold-medal match to her U.S. teammate, the world No. 1-ranked and defending gold medalist fencer Lee Kiefer. The outcome still made history. Scruggs is now just the second female fencer in Harvard’s history to win an Olympic medal, following Emily Cross, who won a women’s foil team event silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Reflecting on her silver medal win at the age of 21, Scruggs expressed her aspirations for the future.
“I just want to see how good I can be with fencing,” she said. “Obviously, I’ve made it pretty far with this event. But hopefully, we can shoot for the stars.”
