The 59-year-old Uzbek - perhaps most famous in sporting circles for being a major shareholder in Premier League football club Arsenal - made the bulk of his fortune through mining and metal, particularly as majority shareholder of Metalloinvest.

The tycoon also has major interest in media, including the co-ownership of a media holding company which comprises of dozens of regional television broadcasting stations, as well as ownership of the world's largest Russian-speaking internet company Mail.ru, who possess stakes in sites such as Facebook and Russian social-networking site Vkontakte.

Usmanov is also co-owner of one of Russia's major mobile phone operators, MegaFon, and owns Kommersant - formerly under the control of Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who died in Britain last month in suspicious circumstances - and Sekret Firmy Publishing Houses.

Since Alisher Usmanov took over as FIE President in 2008, the fencing governing body's finances have drastically improved

He became FIE President in 2008 when he ousted Rene Roch from his role by 66 votes to 61, and was re-elected for a second four-year term in December last year at the FIE Congress in Moscow, as he ran uncontested after it was revealed that the sport's finances had grown five-fold under his tenure.

"In 2008, it was €8 million (£6.5 million/$10.3 million) for four years," Usmanov told delegates at the Congress.

"Today, the federation has €5 million (£4 million/$6 million) per year, plus additional expenses made from extra budgetary sources, like the Fencing Development Fund and sponsorship money."

The FIE celebrates its centenary this year, and Usmanov earmarked 2013 as a year for fencing to push on even further as it continues to grow as a sport.

"I believe that now is not the time to rest on our laurels, as we have a great deal of work ahead of us and we must face up to tough challenges," he said earlier this year.

"I am convinced that 2013, when we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the FIE, will be a year of success, accomplishments and the start of a new century in the development of fencing."

Usmanov is a council member of the Sochi 2014 Winter Games, the 2013 Kazan Summer Universiade and the Russian Olympian Sportsmen Support Fund.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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