Westbrook’s condition comes with doctor’s orders: He can’t exercise in a way that irritates his liver. That wouldn’t stop him.

“No, absolutely not,” Westbrook said over the phone Sunday night, laughing at the question. “I did jumping jacks.”

Scruggs, a rising Harvard senior from Queens, won the silver medal in the women’s foil at the Paris Olympics. After her semifinal victory secured a medal, Scruggs covered her face with her right arm, one of the few moments of silence all day. She fenced with guts and performed with sheer confidence, setting the terms against bigger, more experienced opponents, shouting for points and admonishing family members in the crowd.

Scruggs lost only to compatriot Lee Kiefer, who defended her Tokyo gold medal with a 15-6 victory in the final. Before Kiefer claimed gold at the Tokyo Olympics, the United States had never won an individual medal in women’s foil. On Sunday, the Americans won gold and silver. Kiefer became the second American woman after Mariel Zagunis to win two golds in fencing.

Scruggs made the kind of history that could have a lasting impact. Westbrook recalled that more black men entered the sport after he won his bronze medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. He sees the same effect after Scruggs’ triumph. “They tried fencing because of me,” Westbrook said. “They’re going to try fencing because of Lauren.”

“Fencing has definitely been a non-black sport for the most part,” Scruggs said. “I hope that people who look like me, girls who look like me, feel like they have a place in this sport.”

Scruggs began fencing when he was about 7. Her brother, Nolen, had been a fan of “Star Wars” as a child and saw fencing as a way to duel with a lightsaber. Their mother saw an ad for a local club and signed him up. Nolen wanted to quit after a few lessons, but their mother had already paid for the equipment and wouldn’t let him. Scruggs continued.

Scruggs knew right away that she was good. Today, she sees the barriers to expanding the fencer pool as both financial and cultural. It’s an expensive sport associated with prep schools and the Ivy League. Black kids who join a club may not see people who look like them.

“From a young age, I really had to prove myself to get respect,” Scruggs said. “It’s the little things. Maybe no one’s cheering for you, things like that.”

When she was winning tournaments, her stepfather, who is white, reached out to Westbrook through her coach, Sean McClain. According to Westbrook’s recollection, Scruggs’ stepfather wanted Westbrook to have a black male influence for her.

Westbrook accepted Scruggs into the Peter Westbrook Foundation, which Westbrook founded in 1991 to support and mentor underrepresented youth in fencing. More than 4,000 children have gone through the program, which has a 100 percent graduation rate. Scruggs still returns every Saturday when she’s home from Harvard to volunteer and coach. When she walked onto the track Sunday morning, Scruggs became the 17th Olympian produced by Westbrook’s foundation.

Though Scruggs was an Olympic rookie, she came with a full resume, winning the 2020 Junior World Championship and the 2023 NCAA Championship. She has been All-American all three years of her collegiate career and entered the Olympics ranked 11th in the world.

Scruggs was just 21 and refused to give in. She attacked every match, every point, with the confidence honed by growing up in New York City. She braced herself for games by blasting music through her headphones. She danced around the track in bright red shoes. During one timeout, she drank a bottle of Coca-Cola — “sugar and caffeine,” she said.

In the round of 16, Scruggs defeated Canada’s Jessica Guo, the Harvard teammate who defeated her in this year’s NCAA title match. After winning, Scruggs sliced ​​the air with her weapon, then pressed her face against a television camera at the corner of the rink and screamed into the lens. In her audacity, Scruggs carried Westbrook’s presence to Paris.

“A lot of the energy you saw tonight is the energy he tells us to bring to the tournaments,” Scruggs said. “He’s a very energetic guy. A lot of charisma and machismo. So I brought that energy today. I thought about him when I was fencing.”

For a moment it looked like Scruggs was out. In a thrilling quarterfinal, Scruggs took an 8-2 lead over world number 2 Arianna Errigo of Italy, only to see the lead shrink to 14-14. The next point would win. Scruggs and Errigo attacked each other and as always in fencing it was unclear who struck first. The judges awarded Errigo the match.

Scruggs pulled off her mask and pointed to the replay screen on an end wall, certain that the attack had been hers. Errigo celebrated, equally certain. The judges considered the point. The referee led the fencers to the center and informed them that they had reversed the decision. Errigo dropped to her knees and shouted at the judges. Scruggs dropped her mask and raised her foil as she walked to the far corner where her family sat.

The victory propelled Scruggs to an epic podium. As they were introduced during the medal rounds, fencers emerged from behind an arched wooden door, brandished their weapons from a gilded balcony, and descended 50 steps down a curved stone staircase. They walked through a tunnel to a floodlit arena 150 feet beneath the great glass dome. When a fencer scored, neon lights on their side of the floor glowed.

In the semifinals, Scruggs dominated Canada’s Eleanor Harvey. After a 5-5 tie, Scruggs won seven points in a row to win 15-9. Scruggs pulled off her mask. She had won a medal, a medal that one man understood better than anyone else.

“When you do something like that, man, there’s so many layers,” Westbrook said. “You do it for your country. You do it for your sport. You do it for black people. You elevate so many different levels.”

At the medal ceremony, Scruggs stood on the podium, her right hand over her heart. She stared at the American flag as the Star-Spangled Banner played. She had won a medal that could inspire others like her to follow her. She had lifted up a sick man she knows well and loves dearly.

“Oh my god,” Westbrook said from New York. “I’m just so proud.”