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In the end, Lauren S. Scruggs ‘25 was never leaving Paris without gold.
Scruggs propelled Team USA to victory in the 2024 Paris Olympics women’s team foil tournament on Thursday, holding off Italy’s three-time Olympian Arianna Errigo to give the United States its first-ever team gold medal in fencing.
Scruggs, who already won a silver medal in the individual foil event on Sunday, became the first current Harvard student to win a gold medal in the Summer Olympics since David Berkoff ’89 in 1988.
Team USA, led by Scruggs and individual foil gold medalist Lee Keifer, breezed through the tournament on Thursday as they defeated China and Canada on their way to the final against No. 1-ranked Italy.
The victory was a true team effort for the Americans as substitute Maia M. Weintraub contributed two clutch performances in the final against Italy as Kiefer, Scruggs, and Jacqueline Dubrovich all struggled.
Scruggs started the final against Italy strong as she defeated Martina Favaretto 5-1 in the second bout to give Team USA a five-point advantage. After a difficult bout for the Americans against Italy’s Alice Volpi, Kiefer won her bout by one point and Weintraub extended the lead with a two-point victory over Errigo.
Italy earned a point back as Volpi’s bout against Scruggs ended 6-5, bringing the Italians back to within five points of Team USA as they entered the last three bouts of the final.
Weintraub provided a dominant performance against Italian substitute Francesca Palumbo to give Team USA a nine-point lead as Keifer and Scruggs prepared for their final bouts of the tournament.
While Keifer struggled against Volpi, the two-time individual foil gold medalist recovered enough at the end of her bout to hand off an eight-point lead to Scruggs in the final bout of the tournament.
With the score 40-32, Scruggs needed only five touches to secure the gold medal for Team USA. But Errigo quickly proved why she is considered one of the best foil fencers in the world. The left-handed Italian took the first four points against Scruggs to narrow the score to 40-36.
Scruggs and Errigo traded the next four points, but then Errigo took yet another point against Scruggs to bring Italy within three touches of tying the United States. The Queens, New York native, however, would not let Errigo get any closer. Scruggs won the next three points to give Team USA the gold.
On Team USA’s path to the final, Scruggs faced off against her Harvard teammate Jessica Z.J. Guo ’27 for the second time of the 2024 Paris Olympics during the semifinal matchup against Canada. Guo and Scruggs met each other during the individual tournament’s round of 16, where Scruggs easily defeated Guo.
The team tournament provided Guo an opportunity to extract some revenge against Scruggs, as she breezed past Scruggs 5-1 in the semifinal’s opening bout. With Team USA facing a four-point deficit entering the third bout of the semifinal, Kiefer suddenly turned the tables as she outscored her Canadian opponent, the 16 year-old Yunjia Zhang, 14-3 to turn the deficit into a five-point advantage for the Americans.
Despite Guo’s best efforts, Canada never managed to catch Team USA. The loss earned them a matchup against Japan with a bronze medal on the line. Guo and her team, however, lost a nailbiter to Japan as a late comeback fell just short.
Team USA’s victory in the women’s team foil tournament made up for a disappointing performance from the all-Harvard men’s saber team just one day earlier. The Crimson’s saber fencers underperfomed in the individual tournament and didn’t fare any better in the team competition as they were upset in the first round by Iran.
—Staff writer Thomas Harris can be reached at thomas.harris@thecrimson.com.
