In a repeat of the women’s foil team fencing final, France were once again beaten 45-41, following on from victories over South Korea by 45 points to 26 in the semi-final and a 45-34 triumph over hosts Japan in the quarter-final.

The trio who fought each bout became European champions in team sabre in Düsseldorf in 2019, and world champions the following month in Budapest.

Pozdniakova and Velikaya were part of the gold-medal winning team at the 2018 European Championships in Novi Sad in 2018, and silver medallists at the World Championships in Wuxi in the same year.

Velikaya, now 36, is the most experienced member of the team, having also been part of a gold medal triumph in the team sabre event at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

The world number two in women’s sabre also boasts a number of individual honours.

She earned a silver medal at the last two World Championships and clinched gold at the event at Catania 2011 and Moscow 2015.

Velikaya finished on the podium six times at the World Championships in the individual sabre event, which goes alongside three consecutive silver medals at the Olympic Games.

She served as the flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony of Tokyo 2020 and was named Female Athlete of the Year in the Russian Federation in 2015.

Pozdniakova’s success was the 24-year-old’s second gold medal at her first Olympic Games, having defeated her compatriot Velikaya 15-11 in the individual sabre final.

Since making her international debut in 2017, the Russian fencer has already won gold at the 2018 World Championships in individual sabre to go with her team gold from the following year, and her exemplary record has continued in both sabre events in Tokyo.

Both of her parents were also professional fencers - her father Stanislav winning four Olympic gold medals, including in the men’s individual and team sabre at Atlanta 1996.

He is also a 10-time world champion and 13-time European champion and has served as President of the Russian Olympic Committee since 2018.

The youngest member of the team is Nikitina, making her Olympics debut at 22.

She is ranked 11th in the world and was part of the team sabre success at the European and World Championships in 2019.

In the same year, she earned gold in Wuhan at the Military World Games, both in the team foil and team sabre events.

Nikitina started out as a figure skater, before turning to fencing and making her international debut in 2016.

Sheveleva also featured in the team of four as a reserve, but the three bouts were all fought by her team-mates.

The 24-year-old is ranked 54th in the world and is the team’s only left-hander.

She earned a bronze medal in the individual sabre event at the 2018 European Championships and was part of a gold-medal winning team at the 2016 World Junior Championships.