Westbrook has doctor's orders for his condition — he shouldn't do anything that would put strain on his liver — but that won't stop him.
“Of course not,” Westbrook said by phone Sunday night, laughing at the question. “I just did some jumping jacks.”
Scruggs, a Queens native and Harvard University-bound student, won a silver medal in the women's foil at the Paris Olympics. After winning her semifinal match and winning the medal, Scruggs covered her face with her right arm. It was one of the few moments of quiet all day. She fenced with aplomb, performing with confidence, holding her own against a bigger, more experienced opponent, shouting after points and encouraging her family in the stands.
Scruggs was defeated only by fellow American Lee Kiefer, who defended her gold medal in Tokyo with a 15-6 victory in the final. The U.S. had never won a medal in the women's individual foil until Kiefer won gold at the Tokyo Olympics. On Sunday, the U.S. won gold and silver. Kiefer became just the second American woman to win two gold medals in fencing, joining Mariel Zagunis.
Scruggs made history that will last. Westbrook recalled that more black men took up fencing after he won a bronze medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. He sees the same impact after Scruggs' win. “They tried out for fencing because of me,” Westbrook said. “They'll try out for fencing because of Lauren.”
“Fencing has historically been a sport that very few black people have participated in,” Scruggs said. “I hope that people like me, girls like me, feel like there is a place for them in this sport.”
Scruggs started fencing when he was about 7 years old. His older brother, Nolen, had loved Star Wars as a child and saw fencing as a way to duel with lightsabers. His mother saw an ad for a local club and signed him up. Nolen wanted to quit after a few lessons, but his mother wouldn't let him, since she had already paid for the equipment. Scruggs stuck with him.
Scruggs quickly realized she was good, and now she thinks the barriers to a wider fencer pool are both economic and cultural: Fencing is an expensive sport associated with prep schools and the Ivy League, and black kids who join clubs may not see people who look like them.
“From a young age, I had to prove myself to get respect,” Scruggs said. “It's the little things, like maybe no one's going to cheer for me or anything like that.”
As she won tournaments, her stepfather, who is white, reached out to Westbrook through her coach, Sean McClain. Westbrook recalls that Scruggs' stepfather wanted Westbrook to have the clout to influence him as a black man.
Westbrook accepted Scruggs into the Peter Westbrook Foundation, which Westbrook founded in 1991 to support and mentor underprivileged youth through fencing. More than 4,000 kids have participated in the program, which boasts a 100 percent graduation rate. Scruggs still returns as a volunteer and coach every Saturday when he visits home from Harvard. When Scruggs hit the slopes Sunday morning, he became the 17th Olympian to have been produced by the Westbrook Foundation.
Scruggs was an Olympic rookie but came to the Olympics with a fulfilling resume, winning the 2020 Junior World Championship and the 2023 NCAA title, earning All-American honors all three years in college and entering the Olympics ranked 11th in the world.
Scruggs, just 21, never backed down. She approached every match, every point, with the confidence that comes with being raised in New York. Before matches, she blasted music on headphones to get focused. She wore bright red shoes and danced around the course. During timeouts, she downed a bottle of Coca-Cola. “Sugar and caffeine,” she says.
In the round of 16, Scruggs beat Canadian Jessica Guo, her Harvard teammate who had beaten Scruggs in this year's NCAA finals. After the win, Scruggs sliced the air with her weapon, pressed her face against a television camera mounted on the corner of the slope and screamed into the lens. With a bold move, Scruggs brought a Westbrook feel to Paris.
“A lot of the energy that you saw tonight is the energy that he wants us to bring to the tournament,” Scruggs said. “He's a very energetic guy. He's got a lot of charisma and masculinity, so I brought that energy out today. I was thinking about him while I was fencing.”
For a moment, it looked like Scruggs was gone. In a nail-biting quarterfinal match, Scruggs led 8-2 against world No. 2 Arianna Errigo of Italy, then trailed 14-14. The next point would decide the outcome. Scruggs and Errigo charged at each other, and, as is always the case in fencing, it was unclear who had struck first. The judges awarded the victory to Errigo.
Scruggs removed his mask and pointed to the replay on the end wall. He was sure the hit was his. Errigo was just as sure and pleased. The officials reviewed the point. The chair umpire called the players to the center and told them he had overturned the call. Errigo dropped to his knees and screamed at the officials. Scruggs pulled down his mask, raised his foil, and walked to the far corner where his family was sitting.
The win put Scruggs on a grand stage. When introduced in the medal round, fencers emerged from behind arched wooden doors, brandished their weapons from a gilded balcony, and descended 50 curved stone steps. They walked through a tunnel under spotlights onto an arena 150 feet below a giant glass dome. When a fencer scored, neon lights on their side of the floor lit up.
In the semifinals, Scruggs dominated Eleanor Harvey of Canada. After a 5-5 tie, Scruggs won seven straight points to win 15-9. Scruggs took off her mask. She won a medal, but one man knew it better than anyone else.
“When you do something like that, it means a lot of things,” Westbrook said. “You do it for your country. You do it for sports. You do it for black people. You're inspiring people on a lot of levels.”
At the medal ceremony, Scruggs stood at the podium, right hand over her heart. She gazed upon the American flag as “The Star-Spangled Banner” played. She had received a medal that could inspire others like her: She had lifted the spirits of a sick man she knew and loved so well.
“Oh man, wow,” Westbrook said from New York. “I'm just so proud.”
