By Waylon Galvez
This is certainly a pleasant news for Filipino community in the United States – and yes even here in the Philippines.
Lee Kiefer, an American fencer with Filipino blood, delivered an early gold for the vaunted Team USA when she stunned defending champion Inna Deriglazova of Russia, 15-13, in the foil event of women’s fencing in the Tokyo Olympics Sunday nightat the Makuhari Messe Hall in Japan.
The 27-year-old Kiefer, whose mother Teresa is from Tagum City in Davao, shattered a 12-all score against the 31-year-old Deriglazova that gave her the win and the gold medal.
Lee’s latest win added to her colorful career that included a gold medal with the United States foil women’s team during the 2018 World Fencing Championships in Wuxi, China.
In an article by Spin.PH in 2016, it mentioned that Lee, who started fencing at the age of five-years-old, has visited the country when she was 10 with her mother and father Steve.
This is Lee’s third Olympics, having competed in the 2012 London edition and the 2016 Rio meet.
A former US NCAA fencing champion at Notre Dame, Lee will be aiming for her second gold medal when she leads the USA women’s foil squad with Nicole Ross, Jackie Dubrovich and Sabrina Massialas.
