Lee Kiefer, second from right, along with her husband Grant Mienhardt, right, won Olympic fencing medals. The two UK med students were recognized at Saturday's game along with UK rifle team members Mary Tucker and Will Shaner who also won Olympic medals. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Olympic gold medalist Lee Kiefer thought it was an “electric” atmosphere at Kroger Field Saturday night when Kentucky beat Missouri 35-28 and Kiefer and her husband, Olympic bronze medalist Grant Meinhardt, were honored during the game.
Both are UK medical school students and were recognized along with Mary Tucker and Will Shaner, Olympic medalists who are on UK’s national champion rifle team.
However, Kiefer had to make a confession.
“That was our first football game. I grew up a Duke fan because my dad went to college there. We stay busy and we love going to Notre Dame (where she went to college),” said Kiefer. “But it has been on our bucket list to go to a UK game.”
She felt “honored” when UK Athletics reached out to her and her husband about recognizing them at the game.
“It was so cool,” Kiefer said even though they had to leave after the third quarter because her husband had to study.
“There is nothing like sports to bring people together. You never see people that happy, or sometimes people very unhappy, anywhere else. It’s part of the fun that people care so much about their team,” Kiefer said. “We would love to go to more games in the future if we can but we have to set limits.”
She joked the had “the best seats in the house” in athletic director Mitch Barnhart’s box even though they also spent about a quarter on the field.
“We had never crossed paths with him (Barnhart) before. He was a very nice guy. He was obviously walking that line between entertaining people while being invested in the game and his other responsibilities,” she said.
Several fans told me they liked seeing Kiefer with her hat on backwards while she was on the field. She said it was “comfortable” to wear that way but also had another reason.
“I have noticed before when a wore a hat the normal way that people can’t really see my face,” Kiefer, who won only the third fencing Olympic gold medal in U.S. history, said. “I guess this was not my first rodeo. I have seen too many pictures that were not good because I wore my hat the normal way.”
Kiefer said she’s still busy a month after winning the gold medal. She flew to Long Island last weekend to see her sister and is flying to Seattle this week to see a friend who was supposed to be at the Olympic Games but was not allowed to attend.
“I am booking up my schedule with friends and family until I start (med) school back next year,” she said. “I still have a lot of people to try and see.”
