Alisher Usmanov, President of the International Fencing Federation (FIE), met Bach, a gold medallist in team foil at the Montreal Games of 1976, at IOC headquarters in Lausanne.

Commenting on the meeting, Usmanov - a wealthy Uzbek-born businessman who is himself a former fencer and is also a big shareholder in Arsenal, the North London Premier League football club - said:

"It was with great pleasure that I congratulated Mr Bach on his election to this important position.

"The FIE and all the followers of fencing are honoured that an Olympic champion in fencing has become the leader of the Olympic Movement.

"Our federation has been a reliable and active member of the Olympic family ever since the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.

"Mr Bach can be assured that we will carry on supporting the IOC in its efforts to strengthen the Olympic ideals all around the world, first and foremost reaching out to the youth.

"The International Fencing Federation is prepared to continue to make a substantial contribution to the future of the Olympic Movement."

Thomas Bach was a world-class fencer, winning an Olympic gold medal in the team event at Montreal 1976

Usmanov was in Lausanne for a meeting of the Executive Committee of the FIE, which is celebrating its centenary year.

The two men share an interest in football as well as fencing.

Bach confessed in his first media conference as IOC President this month in Buenos Aires that he is a keen football fan, even, as a youngster, preferring the sport to fencing.

"When I started to become a fencer, I wanted to be a football player," Bach told journalists.

"I preferred playing football."

In the end, Bach explained, his parents convinced him to attend his local fencing club by telling him the training he received there would help make him a better footballer.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Bach now supports two clubs: the European champions Bayern Munich and FC Nürnberg.

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