HERstory: Meet Olympic Fencing Gold Winner Lauren Scruggs

Source: Kristy Sparow / Getty

Black American woman fencer, Lauren Scruggs, makes history at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The athlete won the gold for the U.S. team further cementing Black and LGBTQ+ identifying women at the forefront of world sports. Read what we know about the Olympic fencer inside.

The 21-year-old fencer became the first Black American woman to win an individual Olympic fencing medal, clinching gold for the U.S. team. She competed with the American women’s fencing team in the foil competition on Thursday (July 25), defeating Italy’s Arianna Errigo. This is the first time the U.S. has ever won gold in the event.

As the match finished, Scruggs threw off her mask and looked at her teammates in utter disbelief. The Queens bred athlete is also the first lesbian fencer to receive an individual fencing medal.

Lauren told NBC News that the experience felt “surreal,” and that she hopes her medal shows other people that fencing “is for you.” The sport has historically lacked diversity but thanks to the first Black American Olympian fencer to win a medal in the sport, Peter Westbrook, Scruggs got an amazing opportunity to create HERstory. Through Westbrook’s foundation, supporting underrepresented youth through fencing, Lauren had the opportunity to pursue the sport.

Scruggs, from Queens, New York, became the first Black American woman and the first Black out lesbian to win an individual fencing medal.

“You get more diverse people getting into fencing when they see people like them,” Scruggs told NBC News. “I hope to be an example of who can fence. Hopefully people like me who identify similar to me feel that this sport is the place for them.”

Congrats to the championed athlete making waves in a niche industry like fencing. It’s not easy but she’s doing it.

Check out 10 facts about Scruggs below:

1. Scruggs trained under U.S. Olympic medal winning fencer Peter Westbrook and his foundation, which supports underrepresented youth through fencing.
2. Her favorite part of her Olympic debut, aside from winning a medal, has been “casually walking past” medalists like Simone Biles and tennis star Coco Gauff.
3. She started fencing at age 6 after her older brother Nolen started taking lessons.
4. Lauren loves the nature of the competition, saying, ““It’s very mentally stimulating.” “It’s a combat sport, so I think it’s unique in the sense that you get to fight someone, but it’s also you’re not really fighting them, like with boxing. So it’s a very interesting sport to me,” she added with NBC News.
5. Scruggs shared that she received pushback growing up as a fencer due to her race.
6. She revealed that sexual orientation further isolated her but she thanks her supportive group of friends.
7. Scruggs is a rising senior at Harvard University studying philosophy and plans to work in finance.
8. She met her girlfriend, Chelsea, whose photos she often shares on social media, through a friend during freshman year.
9. Scruggs is also the second LGBTQ person to medal in a women’s fencing event following French fencer Astrid Guyart, who won a silver medal in the team women’s foil at the Tokyo Olympics.
10. She became the second LGBTQ athlete to medal at the Paris Games, following Amandine Buchard from France, who won a silver in women’s judo. Lauren talked about how much she usually enjoys going to NYC’s LGBTQ Pride march every June and soaking up energy in Washington Square Park. This year she didn’t make it due to a fencing tournament.