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Which athlete with ties to the University of Kentucky had a better Olympics?

Lee Kiefer, a UK College of Medicine third-year student, won her second straight gold medal in foil fencing in Paris and was also part of the first U.S. team to win the gold medal. She is now the most decorated foil fencer in American history and was the first American foil fencer to win an individual Olympic gold medal. She has also competed in four Olympics.

“When you become the only or the first to do anything, you start looking at that person and wonder why that has not been done before and how special that makes them. She is special,” said former UK all-SEC defensive back Van Hiles, who is an avid track fan.

Hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone competed one year at Kentucky where she broke the collegiate record in the 400-meter hurdles and also set the world junior 400-meter dash record. Even before she got to UK she was named the Gatorade National Female Athlete of the Year in 2015–16 and 2016–17, the first time any athlete had won that honor in consecutive years. At age of 17, she was on the cover of Sports Illustrated

She qualified for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil and then won gold in the 400 hurdles in Japan in 2021 in a world record time of 51.46 seconds. In Paris, she won again in dominant fashion with a world record time of 50.37 seconds.

ESPN personality Myron Medcalf tried to put what McLaughlin-Levrone did in perspective.

“Let’s be clear. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is even better than you might know. In May, she decided to run the 200m  (meter dash) for fun at a meet in LA. She recorded a top-10 time in the world. In June, she entered the 400m. She ran the No. 2 time in the world. And now another 400m hurdles WR (world record in the Olympics),” Medcalf posted on social media.

He also explained that three women who competed in the Olympic semifinals in Paris in the 400-meter dash did not beat McLaughlin-Levrone’s time in the 400 hurdles.

Robert Griffin, the 2011 Heisman Trophy winning quarterback at Baylor, posted that McLaughlin-Levrone was the “greatest female track and field athlete of all time” after she broke the world record for the sixth time at age 25.

Olympic gold medalist alpine skier and seven-time world champion Mikaela Shiffrin posted on social media about the former UK hurdler who has not lost a 400 hurdle race since 2019. She had a hometown track in New Jersey named for her, signed a lucrative deal with New Balance Running and was voted World Athletics Female Athlete of the Year.

McLaughlin-Levrone ran a dominating leg on USA’s 4×400 gold-medal relay team that finished in 3”15:27, the second-fastest time ever and fastest since 1988. McLaughlin-Levrone ran her leg in 47.71 seconds.

“She is just a  unicorn and just dominant in the history of her event,” Hiles said.

Kiefer was featured in Vogue magazine and on NBC-TV’s Today Show after her gold-medal performances. She doesn’t have the social media presence of McLaughlin-Levrone and fencing does not draw the national audience. However, she received congratulation messages from numerous UK personalities, including men’s basketball coach Mark Pope.