Lee Kiefer

Lee Kiefer was born on June 15, 1994, in Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up in Lexington, Kentucky. She began fencing at the age of seven. Her family has a background in fencing, with her father having captained the Duke University fencing team, and her older sister and younger brother also competing in foil fencing. Kiefer attended the University of Notre Dame, where she fenced for the Fighting Irish and graduated in 2017 with a degree. She is currently a medical student at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.

Kiefer has consistently achieved high-level results throughout her career. She competed in four Olympic Games: London 2012, Rio de Janeiro 2016, Tokyo 2020, and Paris 2024. In 2021, at the Tokyo Olympics, she won a gold medal in individual women’s foil, becoming the first American, male or female, to win gold in individual Olympic foil. Her success continued at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where she secured two more gold medals in individual foil and team foil. Kiefer has also earned multiple medals at World Championships, including gold in team women’s foil in 2018 and individual and team gold in 2025.

In addition to her Olympic and World Championship medals, Kiefer has accumulated numerous Pan American titles, with multiple golds in both individual and team foil events across the Pan American Games and Pan American Championships. In 2017, she became the first American woman to achieve the No. 1 ranking in foil. Kiefer is married to fellow Team USA fencer Gerek Meinhardt, and they both have competed in multiple Summer Olympics.