LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Behind every Olympian is their support system, and that could not be more true for 4-time fencing Olympian and Kentucky native Lee Kiefer.
Kiefer won her second Olympic gold medal in women's foil fencing in the 2024 Paris Games on Sunday.
When she's not winning gold, Kiefer and her husband, fellow Team USA fencer Gerek Meinhardt, are in medical school.
Kiefer comes from a family of fencers and physicians. Her father, Steven Kiefer, a neurosurgeon, once captained the Duke University fencing team. Kiefer's mother, Teresa Kiefer, is a psychiatrist.
The doctor-gene runs even deeper in their family. Teresa's mother and Lee's grandmother, or Lola, retired after 44 years as a physician.
Unable to travel to Paris, Lee's grandmother, 95-year-old Dr. Teresita Bacani-Oropilla, watched her granddaughter's success on T.V. at her Louisville assisted living facility and through texted pictures and videos from family members.
Her pride? Unwavering.
“I can boast, and I can prove that it’s true," Bacani-Oropilla said. "Everyone knows that Lee is my granddaughter.”
And everyone does know. A grandmother's pride exuded from Bacani-Oropilla, who is dressed from head to toe in red, white and blue, including a hat of Kiefer and Meinhardt, a large pin stuck to her shirt that depicts Kiefer and Meinhardt, and a decked-out walker with a white flag and big blue letters that read, 'Go Lee!!'
Kiefer started fencing at five years old in Louisville and then would be driven back to Lexington, where she lived, after practice.
"They would be so tired and they would get to my house and we would bathe them and everything so that when they went home they would be sleeping in their dad’s car; but these kids work hard," Bacani-Oropilla said with a smile.
While talking about Kiefer's success, Bacani-Oropilla also shared her own journey that led her family to where they are today; 50 years ago, Bacani-Oropilla, her husband, and their two young children at the time (including Teresa) moved from the Philippines to the United States in search of safety and success.
“We came here with $1,500 and four suitcases," she said. "We came here, and we were lost. My two kids went to school, and of course they are brown. They were targets, but they were feisty. They had enough courage to survive.”
Bacani-Oropilla continued her work as a physician in the states and led a 44-year career, both her children deciding to follow in her footsteps.
And while she is known by many as Lee's grandmother, Bacani-Oropilla is also known by many others as an accomplished physician.
“The other day recently, it was because of Lee, she’s on national TV, there was a woman who called the medical society," she said. "She said she didn’t know Dr. Bacani was still alive. She said she was one of my patients when she was six years old."
Reflecting on a lifetime of sacrifice, Bacani-Oropilla keeps her focus stead-fast on the Olympics and watching for Lee.
"You're not just playing because you are playing, you're expected to play to get the gold medal. Can you imagine such pressure? And she did it!," she said.
One dream that came true, as she watches her granddaughter's dreams play out in reality.
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