Lauren Scruggs (born January 27, 2003) is an American left-handed foil fencer. Scruggs won a silver medal in women's individual foil at the 2024 Summer Olympics, making her the first Black American woman to win an individual fencing medal.https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2024/07/28/lee-kiefer-lauren-scruggs-fencing-paris-olympics/#:~:text=Fellow%20American%20Lee%20Kiefer%20won,the%20delight%20of%20her%20mentor. She also won a gold medal in women's team foil at the same Olympics, along with Lee Kiefer, Jackie Dubrovich, and Maia Weintraub. Scruggs competes for the Harvard Crimson team in collegiate fencing. She has won an NCAA championship and is one of three black fencers from the United States to have won an individual world championship.
Early life and education Scruggs grew up in Queens, New York. She was inspired to start fencing as a 6-year-old, after her older brother joined a fencing club in Brooklyn. She attended Packer Collegiate Institute, graduating in 2021. Her older brother Nolen fenced at Columbia University.
She graduated from Harvard University in 2025 with a degree in philosophy.
Career Scruggs is a two-time champion in the Junior World Fencing Championships, winning individual gold medals in 2019 and 2022 as well as other individual and team awards in 2018, 2021, and 2023. In 2023, she earned an individual gold medal at the NCAA Fencing Championships in Durham, North Carolina, and contributed to a fourth-place team finish for Harvard. In June 2023, she took bronze at the Pan American Fencing Championships in Lima.
2024 Summer Olympics On March 17, 2024, Scruggs qualified for the Paris Olympic Games by earning bronze at the Absolute Fencing Gear FIE Grand Prix in Washington, D.C.
At the Games, she won the silver medal in the women's foil event, defeating Italian fencer Arianna Errigo and Canadian fencer Eleanor Harvey, among others, before losing 15–6 in the final to fellow American Lee Kiefer. This made Scruggs the first Black American woman to win an individual fencing medal at the Olympics. She also won a gold medal in the team competition.
Personal life Scruggs is openly lesbian and currently dating a Harvard classmate. She is involved with the Peter Westbrook Foundation, which offers fencing lessons to children and teens who are members of underrepresented groups. By qualifying for the Paris Olympics, she became the 17th Olympian produced by this foundation.
Medal record Olympic Games YearLocationEventPosition2024 Paris, FranceIndividual Women's Foil2nd2024 Paris, FranceTeam Women's Foil1st
World Championship YearLocationEventPosition2025 Tbilisi, GeorgiaTeam Women's Foil1st
Grand Prix DateLocationEventPosition2026-03-21 Lima, PeruIndividual Women's Foil2nd
World Cup DateLocationEventPosition2024-12-07 Busan, koreaTeam Women's Foil2nd2025-01-12 Hong Kong, ChinaTeam Women's Foil2nd2025-05-04 Vancouver, CanadaTeam Women's Foil2nd2025-11-09 Palma de Mallorca, SpainTeam Women's Foil2nd2025-12-05 Busan, KoreaIndividual Women's Foil3rd2025-12-07 Busan, KoreaTeam Women's Foil2nd2026-01-11 Hong Kong, ChinaTeam Women's Foil3rd2026-04-19 Cairo, EgyptTeam Women's Foil3rd
Pan American Championship YearLocationEventPosition2023 Lima, PeruIndividual Women's Foil3rd2023 Lima, PeruTeam Women's Foil2nd2024 Lima, PeruTeam Women's Foil1st2025 Rio de Janeiro, BrazilIndividual Women's Foil3rd2025 Rio de Janeiro, BrazilTeam Women's Foil1st2026 Lima, PeruIndividual Women's Foil3rd2026 Lima, PeruTeam Women's Foil1st
See also List of USFA Division I National Champions List of NCAA fencing champions
External links Lauren Scruggs on Team USA Lauren Scruggs on USA Fencing Lauren Scruggs on Harvard University
References