Kiefer earns 2nd Olympic gold in women's foil fencing with a victory over American teammate Scruggs

PARIS (AP) — Lee Kiefer won back-to-back gold medals in foil fencing and her teammate Lauren Scruggs took the silver Sunday to make history as the first Black fencer to win an Olympic medal in an individual women's event for the United States.

Kiefer won 15-6 in the final against Scruggs and celebrated by pirouetting down the piste in joy. Knowing the U.S. anthem would play after the final no matter what “took the pressure off,” Kiefer said.

The vocal crowd in the cavernous Grand Palais was a huge contrast to the hushed, empty venue in Chiba, Japan, where Kiefer won her first Olympic gold three years ago under pandemic restrictions.

Kiefer dedicated her win to Buckie Leach, who coached her to gold in Tokyo but died 20 days later in a motorcycle accident. “He would be so happy for me,” she said. “This one’s for him. I even have a picture of him on my wall in the village.”

Kiefer’s gold medal is the fifth in an individual event for a U.S. fencer. She follows Mariel Zagunis in 2004 and 2008 as the only American fencers to win gold in the same event twice.

“Mariel, who did it before me, she has been supporting me and being a really important person to keep me feeling important and seen and empowered these past years, so I really want to thank her for being that person,” Kiefer said.

There hadn't been an all-U.S. final in an Olympic fencing event since 2008, when Zagunis beat Sada Jacobson in saber as part of an American podium sweep. Before that, the last time it happened was in 1904.

“I’m definitely more happy than disappointed,” Scruggs said. “I think that it was shocking for me to be here in the first place, so I don’t even think I’ve had time to process losing, if I’m being honest. Just shocking and just super grateful.”

It continues a rapid rise to the top of world fencing for Scruggs, a 21-year-old Harvard student from Queens, New York.

“Maybe two years ago, I really thought I could make the team, until last year, I made my first senior team,” she said. “So to come out here and medal is just insane.”

Scruggs said she wants to inspire young Black fencers and show “that they have a place in the sport.”

Kiefer is part of a decorated Olympic power couple.

Kiefer’s husband, Gerek Meinhardt, is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist in men’s foil who will compete in two events in Paris. Kiefer and Meinhardt are medical students at the University of Kentucky who have taken leave from their studies to pursue their Olympic dreams.

Asked about her future, Kiefer reeled off her and Meinhardt's remaining events in Paris. “That's as far as we're thinking for now,” she said.

Eleanor Harvey became the first Canadian ever to win an Olympic fencing medal when she beat Alice Volpi of Italy 15-12 for the bronze.

Also Sunday, Japan's Koki Kano beat France's Yannick Borel 15-9 for the men's epee gold medal. It was Japan's first gold in an individual Olympic fencing event.

The vocal home crowd had to settle for silver for the second day in a row after Auriane Mallo-Breton lost in the women's epee final Saturday.

Mohamed Elsayed won the bronze for Egypt 8-7 in overtime against Hungary's Tibor Andrasfi.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Japan's Koki Kano, right, competes with France's Yannik Borel in the men's individual Epee final match during the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Japan's Koki Kano celebrates after winning the men's individual Epee final match against France's Yannik Borel during the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Japan's Koki Kano celebrates after winning the men's individual Epee final match against France's Yannik Borel during the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

United States' Lee Kiefer, right, competes with United States' Lauren Scruggs in the women's individual Foil final match during the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

United States' Lee Kiefer, right, competes with United States' Lauren Scruggs in the women's individual Foil final match during the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

United States' Lee Kiefer, right, competes with United States' Lauren Scruggs in the women's individual Foil final match during the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

United States' Lauren Scruggs reacts after winning the women's individual Foil semifinal match against Canada's Eleanor Harvey during the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

United States' Lauren Scruggs reacts after winning the women's individual Foil semifinal match against Canada's Eleanor Harvey during the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

United States' Lee Kiefer, left, competes with Italy's Alice Volpi in the women's individual Foil semifinal match during the 2024 Summer Olympics at the Grand Palais, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Ylenia Aguilar raised her sons in Arizona, so they’re no strangers to scorching heat.

She remembers “seeing soccer kids and my own children pass out and faint from, you know, heat-related illnesses,” she said. “It was seeing my sons dehydrated.”

Schools across the U.S. are carpeted in heat-absorbing asphalt and lack shade. The buildings were often made with materials that radiated heat into indoor spaces. Kids are more vulnerable to heat illness than adults, and extreme temperatures affect learning, performance and concentration. Heat-related school closures are becoming more frequent.

The burden of extreme heat is not felt equally. Low-income neighborhoods and communities of color can be as much as 7 F (3.9 C) hotter than richer and whiter neighborhoods.

Yet there are well-known ways to cool down schools and neighborhoods.

In 2022, students at a school near Atlanta pointed thermometers onto their basketball court and got a reading of 105 F (about 40.5 C). A roofing manufacturer donated a solar-reflective coating and helped them paint it on. They took another reading. This time it was 95 F (35 C).

Paved surfaces get really hot in the sun. They absorb solar energy and slowly re-radiate it out as heat, increasing air temperatures by as much as 7 F (3.9 C).

Cooling playgrounds and roads by making them more reflective is not new, but interest has been growing along with more understanding of the way the accumulation can affect neighborhoods, known as urban heat islands, said Daniel Metzger, a fellow at Columbia Law School.

The Science, Arts and Entrepreneurship School recently had that same cool surface painted on their parking lot. Both times, the coatings and labor were donated. Without that, the school would have had to raise funds, said Scott Starowicz, the school’s co-founder and chief financial officer.

East of Los Angeles, roofs across the Chaffey Joint Union High School District once reached 140 F (60 C). Warm roofs mean upper-floor classrooms could get hot, which would affect a lot of Chaffey's students, nearly 65% of who are Latino or Hispanic.

Chaffey has spent $11.4 million in bond money and maintenance funds to convert asphalt shingle roofs to white cool roofing since 2017.

These roofs — as well as window films, paints and other technologies — reflect part of the incoming solar radiation away from a building, rather than allowing it to transfer inside as heat. These are some of the easiest and least costly actions a district can take.

Experts agree cool roofing lowers indoor temperature and reduces the need for AC.

The district has also invested in steel shade structures, trees and temperature devices to monitor heat stress.

On hot days, Sharon Gamson Danks remembers seeing her kids and their peers sitting in the shade along the edges of their school building.

More schools are tearing out hot asphalt, turf or rubber mats in favor of grass, gardens, mulch or trees. Experts say trees are one of the best ways to cool things down.

At Parkway Elementary in Sacramento, trees replaced turf this summer thanks to a grant. The project is part of a California schoolyard forests effort to increase tree canopy in public schools, especially in underserved communities.

For the hottest schools, these solutions are often out of reach.

Federal agencies offer grants, but they often don’t cover the full cost, and schools sometimes don’t have the staff to apply for and manage grants. Increased maintenance costs are also a concern.

Relying on grant money “can completely exacerbate the haves and the have-nots” when it comes to reducing climate change and adapting to its harms, said UCLA professor V. Kelly Turner.

Many believe schools shouldn’t be left on their own. Every individual solution makes a difference, said Greg Kats of the Smart Surfaces Coalition. But combining efforts with a local government or neighborhood means schools can be even more comfortable, he said.

“It’s just sort of integration, right, of different strategies over a larger geographic area,” he added. “You’re really sort of transforming the school environment.”

In Phoenix, Aguilar’s efforts improved Osborn Elementary District, but the work is ongoing. It recently got money to plant more trees and add more shade.

Aguilar understood that it would only get hotter, she said. “I knew that we needed to take action.”

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The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment.

Ronnie Jefferies paints the parking lot at Science, Arts and Entrepreneurship School to help cool it by making it more reflective, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Mableton, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Ronnie Jefferies works on the parking lot at Science, Arts and Entrepreneurship School where it is being repainted to help cool it by making it more reflective, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Mableton, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Ronnie Jefferies works on the parking lot at Science, Arts and Entrepreneurship School where it is being repainted to help cool it by making it more reflective, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Mableton, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

School districts race to invest in cooling solutions as classrooms and playgrounds heat up

School districts race to invest in cooling solutions as classrooms and playgrounds heat up

Ronnie Jefferies paints the parking lot at Science, Arts and Entrepreneurship School to help cool it by making it more reflective, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Mableton, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)