UKY Video Production | 2019-05-20 BTB (Lee Kiefer - Med Student and Olympic Fencer)
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ANNOUNCER: From the campus of the University of Kentucky, you're listening to "Behind the Blue."
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CARL NATHY: Hello, and welcome to the Behind the Blue podcast. I'm Carl Nathy, pleased to be joined in this interview by Lee Kiefer. Lee has just finished her second year of medical school at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. She grew up in Lexington, and she has some very interesting things going on in her life, including being a two time Olympic. I said, yes, summer Olympics, as in London 2012, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. And she is aiming to compete in the summer 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Lee thanks for taking the time, and welcome in.
LEE KIEFER: Thank you for having me. Happy to be here.
CARL NATHY: You have a fascinating background. Tell us a little bit. You grew up in Lexington, and grew up in a family that had both fencing in the family and medical education in the family.
LEE KIEFER: Yes. Fencing and medicine is all I've ever known since I was born, it seems like. Growing up, my dad, who is a physician, he decided that he wanted to try fencing. He hadn't picked up a foil, let's say, in 10, 15 years. And me and my siblings watched him compete at a local
tournament. And then he asked if we wanted to try it. We said yes, and then almost 20 years later, I'm still here. Still doing it.
CARL NATHY: Now, your dad, who is a physician, Dr. Kiefer-- and his first name is Steven, Dr. Steven Kiefer-- he competed in college at Duke University?
LEE KIEFER: Yes, he did.
CARL NATHY: He competed in fencing. Right?
LEE KIEFER: Yes, he did. CARL NATHY: But then he had to kind of put that away for a while. And then he came back to it, and that's when you all got interested.
LEE KIEFER: Exactly. I have an older sister, Alex, who was actually an NCAA champion at Harvard in 2013, I want to say. And I have a younger brother Axel, who competed this past weekend. He got second place. So, yeah, all of us very competitive, very high level athletes. Which meant there is a lot of fighting when we were younger because, yes, we are competitive. But it was it was a lot of fun. And now we have that experience together as adults.
CARL NATHY: You went to Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. And how did you go about selecting Notre Dame University?
LEE KIEFER: Mm-hm. Notre Dame has an incredible fencing program. They're known for having Olympic athletes, but also it's an amazing school academically. So on my college visit, just seeing that high level environment and then the team, they're like a family. So I knew that's where I wanted to go to kind of hone my skills and develop into the person I want to be.
CARL NATHY: You mentioned your sister winning an NCAA individual championship, and your brother who competes for Notre Dame was second here just recently in the NCAA's. Now, as far as your medical education is concerned, after you graduated from Notre Dame, and you had a major of science pre-professional, you came to the University of Kentucky, how did you select UK as the place to pursue your medical education?
LEE KIEFER: Well, a lot of factors came into play. After the 2016 Olympics, I was actually planning on retiring from international competitions. Obviously, medical school is a huge commitment. And so I thought to myself, there's no way I can do both. But I still had one year of collegiate
fencing left after the Olympics. So I was like, I'm going to keep traveling internationally, you know, keep my skills sharp for the fencing team.
And then, magically, I became world number one I was like, what happened? I didn't fence at
the Olympics like this. And now I'm having all this confidence and all this new love for fencing,
but I'm going to medical school next year. So I had some conversations with my parents, with
the administration, and everyone supported me. I was surprised. They're like, you got to pursue this. You have a talent and there's an expiration date on this, and we think you can do
both. We'll help you.
CARL NATHY: Wow. That's fantastic. Now, let's go back in time. Because if people are just tuning in, if they missed the beginning. Now, the 2012 summer Olympics, that was your first Olympics. And when did you actually graduate from Dunbar High School in Lexington?
LEE KIEFER: I guess 2012. So I had just graduated high school. And then I headed to London for my first Olympic games as an 18-year-old.
CARL NATHY: Wow. And that must have been not only exciting, but somewhat intimidating, yes? Or is that the wrong word?
LEE KIEFER: Well, surprisingly, I had no expectations on myself. And no one placed them on me because I was so young. So I went out there and I actually you know over-performed. No one expected me to get a medal, and I didn't. But fifth place was a great result, and I beat some great people.
CARL NATHY: And then you followed that up in 2016 with a top 10 finish in the Olympics. And might add, through all of this, you have had to balance-- again, you told me you had taken a year off previously in order to get into the 2016 Olympics. Right?
LEE KIEFER: Right.
CARL NATHY: And then, now, you're just starting a leave of absence. And then you're getting ready. You have a series of tournaments between now and 2020, about seven tournaments around the country.
LEE KIEFER: Mm-hmm.
CARL NATHY: And based on the qualification points that you earn there is how you make the Olympic team for 2020, right?
LEE KIEFER: Exactly. It's definitely possible to go to school and train for competitions. But if you want to do everything to the fullest, it would probably maximize my chances of going for that Olympic medal if I'm able to be rested, well-fed, go to training camps, get those high level bouts before
I go to these competitions. So I think I'm going to separate school and fencing for a little bit.
CARL NATHY: Your mom, who's also a physician, Teresa Kiefer, she is an M.D. Now, what about her and fencing? Has she been involved in fencing as well? Or just in support of all you?
LEE KIEFER: She is our biggest fan. She is the person who will be up in the middle of the night watching the live stream. Most of our competitions are international, so we'll be in Europe, or in Asia. And she'll have her laptop out at the middle of the night. She'll be the one cheering for us all the time. But she definitely keeps our family sane. Not too emotionally high strung all the time.
CARL NATHY: Fantastic. Now, talk about how these two things-- because fencing requires a great deal of mental and physical prowess. I mean, it's a demanding sport. It's individual, it's a combat
sport. In case you don't know, if you're listening on the radio or listening online, and you've never seen fencing, talk a little bit about the equipment that's involved.
LEE KIEFER: Yeah. Most people haven't heard about fencing. Or they've seen it, and it looks very funny. Because we have our full uniforms on for protection. Obviously, we're hitting each other with
swords so we want to be safe. But there are three different weapons. One of them, saber, where you slash each other. One of them, epee, where you can hit with the point anywhere on
the whole body.
And then, foil, which I fence, which arguably is the best weapon, has some other rules. Where,
let's say, if you initiate an attack, and both of you hit, it's the person who's being the aggressor, the person who's making that blade contact. So it's very, very complex, which is why it's hard
to get a good grasp on it. But to get to that high level, it takes a lot of movement, creativity, strength.
CARL NATHY: What about in terms of, when you go to competitions, we mentioned that the mental part of it-- do you get a chance to scout an opponent? Or when you go in, is that sometimes the first time
you've seen that person in action?
LEE KIEFER: A lot of these athletes, I have been competing with them for a decade now. So there's a lot of video out on all of us. So the night before, we'll know who were fencing against. And we'll be able to watch some videos on them, make a plan of what you do, what you don't want to do,
against them. But then again, they're doing the same thing to you. So a lot of it comes down to how you're competing that day.
Same with every other sport. Some days, your timing, your distance, in fencing, your point, is
on more than other days. So I would say, with a lot of the high level athletes it's, who's fencing better?
CARL NATHY: Now, you spoke before also, as you compete in this, the top 16 in the world, that's kind of a sought after ranking. Because not only does it make you one of the world's best, but it has
some built-in inherent advantages. Yes? LEE KIEFER: Definitely. When you're a top 16 in the world, you get a bi to the second day of competition. And that's huge because-- well, for me, as a medical student, it's huge, because it's one day I can travel later to my competitions for schoolwork. But also, the first day is incredibly
challenging too. It's a lot of closer grinding out bouts. Two days of competition, you're more fatigued. But once you have that ranking, you have you have that advantage.
CARL NATHY: And how many bouts might you have in a day in a competition, when you get into the round robin, and so forth?
LEE KIEFER: So for the first day, round robin, you'll probably fence about six five touch bouts. And then, after that, it goes to more of this direct elimination format. 15 touch bouts for that. And the second day is more 15 touch bouts. So in a competition, if you fence the maximum amount of
bouts total, I want to say, maybe, 16 or 17. But for me, I would probably be at six or seven bouts to be in the gold medal bout.
CARL NATHY: Is there an average length for the bout?
LEE KIEFER: Well, a lot of it depends on the style of fencing. I am very small. So I am 5'4 and 105 pounds. But I'm a very aggressive person. So my bouts will go very fast. So we have time or point determination for who wins the bouts, and mine never go to time. We always reach that 15
point mark before the time expires.
CARL NATHY: How does the two-- fencing and the medical education-- because you've had to learn time management a lot earlier in life than a lot of other people with the schedule that you've been
keeping. Am I right?
LEE KIEFER: Oh, definitely. I have been traveling and competing internationally since I was 13 years old. Definitely, it was a learning curve trying to get everything done, trying to stay rested, trying to eat well. But, eventually, you learn how to communicate. That's the biggest thing. Asking
people to help you, moving things around. But, I mean, it's doable. Anyone can fit the amount of things they want to do in during the day.
CARL NATHY: Now, in addition to your parents, who are both medical doctors, your older sister, who was an NCAA fencing champion herself at Harvard, she's now in a medical residency in New York
City. And she is planning on being an OB-GYN.
LEE KIEFER: Yes. CARL NATHY: You have a younger brother, who is at Notre Dame, who also plans, at this point, to follow the family tradition of going to medical school. You're in medical school at UK, two years in. But you haven't decided yet on what you might specialize in. Right?
LEE KIEFER: Right. I'm not sure at this point. We're a family of doctors. And my fiance, who's an Olympic fencer too, we're getting married in September--
CARL NATHY: As is if you don't have enough to plan for!
LEE KIEFER: Exactly. Just collect all the doctors and fencers in town. Yeah, so he's studying for his mCAT. So we're all kind of trying to take these tests and train at the same time.
CARL NATHY: This is impressive, to meet you and to talk to you about all of this. You've been in the Summer Olympics in 2012. That was right out of Dunbar High School in Lexington. Summer of 2016, that was during a period where you took a year off from your studies at Notre Dame in order to
compete in the Olympics.
Now, you are going after the 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo. And you're taking a year of
leave of absence from the University of Kentucky college of medicine in order to be able to be in all the meets that you need to hopefully qualify for the Olympics, and then, hopefully, go on
to have a great performance. This is a busy young woman. And on top of all that, you're getting married this September. Is that going to take place here in Lexington?
LEE KIEFER: It is. We're going to get married at Kingsland.
CARL NATHY: Fantastic. Fantastic. When we were warming up for this, you spoke and used the term resilience. I would think that you have to be resilient to be able to work this hard. And not only at the fencing, but medical education.
LEE KIEFER: There are definitely a lot of emotions that come with trying to get that medical degree and being a top level athlete. It's been an emotional roller coaster, especially the last two years. There is a lot of frustrations. Trying to do both, I often feel like I'm not doing both to their fullest. I feel guilty if I do anything but study or train.
I also feel grateful, the fact that I have the opportunity to do both and I'm doing this well under circumstances. But I love it. I love it. But, yes, every day, it's some new emotion that comes up,
for the good and bad. CARL NATHY: Well, you've seen a lot of the country, and you've seen a lot of the world. Because the 2012 summer Olympics, as I said, was in London, England. Then you were, in 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 2020, hopefully, is Tokyo, Japan. So in these international meets that you compete in. So you've seen a lot in your young life.
LEE KIEFER: Yes. Unfortunately, a lot of time when we're at these competitions, we see a lot of convention center type looks. Not that much daylight. But when we're there for longer periods of time, it's
incredible. I was just in Cairo a few weeks ago, my coach is actually Egyptian, and he took us around the town. It's just beautiful. It's been amazing.
And Tokyo's one of my favorite places I've been. So the fact the Olympics are there may be one of the reasons I'm still fencing.
CARL NATHY: Now, may I ask, because I'm trying to do the math. So you graduated Dunbar in 2012. That was right before the Olympics. How old were you when you graduated high school?
LEE KIEFER: I was 17. So, yeah, 18 was my first Olympics. And then I will be 26 at my last Olympics, hopefully. Obviously, it's still a process to qualify. But I got to go and with confidence. I got to give it my all. So I'm going to have that mindset.
CARL NATHY: And after you, hopefully, complete the 2020 summer Olympics very successfully, then you'll return for year three and year four at the College of Medicine.
LEE KIEFER: Yes, yes. That is correct. I will finish up medical school, and then, hopefully, figure out what kind of doctor I want to be, and go to residency.
CARL NATHY: And residency, for those that don't know, you will already have the initials M.D. Next to your name. But that's when you go to actually have experience and learn with other great doctors to develop a specialty, and develop the training. That could be anywhere from three years to seven years more. Right?
LEE KIEFER: Exactly. Exactly. A lot of decisions to be made of what kind of doctor I want to be. But I'm excited for all of these things in my life.
CARL NATHY: Well, the good news, it seems like between your parents-- your mom and dad being doctors and he being a former fencer. And then your siblings, your older sister and younger brother
both fencing, you have people. It's not like you're out there on the island. A, you're the only one in the family who wants to be a doctor, B, who is a world class fencer. So you've got some things to compare notes about. Right?
LEE KIEFER: Exactly. It takes a village to do all of these things that are both beautiful and challenging. So I have to give everyone credit where it's due.
CARL NATHY: Now, what do you do-- I know you don't have much downtime. But you've got to have some outlet besides the fencing, besides the medical studies. So if you do get a free day, or a free night, or free time to just relax a little bit, what do you like to do?
LEE KIEFER: Oh, man. I'm not going to lie, it's one of my least favorite questions. Because I feel guilty, I don't have that much time or hobbies.
CARL NATHY: That's OK. But at least you've had time to-- you and your fiance must spend some good time together, and so forth.
LEE KIEFER: Exactly. Everything's pretty intertwined in my life. Yeah, I have an amazing fiancee. Just enjoying the simple things in life. Just enjoying time together.
CARL NATHY: The Olympics, in fencing, the rest of the world pays more attention. Am I right? I mean, it's kind of like of a focal point every four years. Because you're competing for the United States of America against the rest of the world. So people are interested. If they see fencing coming on, and especially in Kentucky, if we see that Lee Kiefer from Lexington, Kentucky is on, that's
pretty neat.
LEE KIEFER: Yeah, definitely. Once every four years, people remember that fencing is a sport. But we have a great little club in town. We have an amazing coach who, I said before, is from Egypt. He coached the Olympic team for my event.
CARL NATHY: And what's his name?
LEE KIEFER: Omgod Cashbahk. And we have a little club off of Claysmon Keithshire, kind of near the Fayette mall. And, you know, anyone should try. It seems a little intimidating just because it's kind of a foreign concept. But really, it's open to adults and children, and it's very interesting. It's something that I think is worthwhile to give a try.
CARL NATHY: One of the things I wanted to ask you about in terms of the future. Do you foresee-- eventually, competitive fencing, world class competitive fencing, is going to be a thing of the
past for you. But do you see yourself staying involved in the sport in some way? LEE KIEFER: I would like to think I would. It's part of my identity. I've done it for almost 20 years. It's a challenge to know in what capacity. Because I don't think I'll have time to coach and, obviously, travel. But maybe here and there. Stopping by the club, getting to see the upcoming generation, maybe teaching a few little kids once in a while. But, yeah, I love fencing. So I don't want to let it go completely.
CARL NATHY: And last thing I wanted to ask you. Because I haven't had the chance to interview too many people who've actually competed in the Olympics. I have talked to a few. But what does it mean when you realize you're not just competing for Lee Kiefer, or for Lexington, or the state of Kentucky, the university that you're at, you're competing for the United States of America? What does that mean?
LEE KIEFER: It's truly one of the most incredible feelings to hear your national anthem playing. Like, it brings me chills. And to be able to be out there on that stage, but also be a role model for the
younger kids of how they can work hard, and how they can act, I think it's a great honor.
CARL NATHY: Well, it has been a joy to talk to you. I think we'll wrap it up as we approach the end of our allotted time. Our guest on the Behind the Blue podcast has been Lee Kiefer. And just to recap. She's a Dunbar High School graduate. She's competed already in the 2012 summer Olympics in London, England, 2016 summer Olympics in Rio. She was top five in one of those Olympics, top 10 in another.
She is in the process, now, going to the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. She's completed her second year. She's taking a year leave of absence. She begins this may with a
series of qualifying tournaments in an attempt to make the 2020 Team USA for the summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. After that, the plan is to return for the third and fourth year of medical school, then residency, and so forth. But Lee, we wish you nothing but the best. We thank you for taking the time to come talk with us.
LEE KIEFER: Thank you for having me.
CARL NATHY: All right. And we will see you next time on the Behind the Blue podcast.
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