The three former fencers all tasted gold-medal success at the Olympic Games, but their sport is facing a crisis with a little more than a year to go until Paris 2024.

Bach etched his name in German fencing folklore when he helped his nation win men’s team foil gold at Montreal 1976.

But the International Olympic Committee (IOC) President is facing a backlash from the fencing community following his organisation’s decision to recommend for competitors from Russia and Belarus to return to global competition as individual neutral athletes.

Russian and Belarusian teams have been banned, while athletes from the two nations can only be permitted if they do not support Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine or are not contracted to their country’s military or national security agencies.

However, the IOC’s new stance which was outlined just over two weeks after the International Fencing Federation (FIE) approved the return of Russian and Belarusian fencers has resulted in an escalating fallout that is shrouding the sport with uncertainty.

An increasing number of fencing events have been cancelled, including ones that were due to count towards Olympic qualification, with hosts refusing to welcome athletes from Russia and Belarus.

The FIE women’s foil World Cup tournament, scheduled to be held from April 21 to 23 in Poznań, is the latest to fall, with the Polish Fencing Federation (PZS) saying it "could not accept" the return of Russians and Belarusians without being able to carry out its own verification process.

Poland’s Sports Minister Kamil Bortniczuk had stressed that any athlete from Russia and Belarus must first sign a statement condemning the war in Ukraine before being allowed to compete in his country.

But the conditions, which were heavily criticised by the Russian Fencing Federation, did not meet the FIE’s requirements.

The PZS said it feared that the competitors from Russia and Belarus would be admitted in a "low-controlled manner in large numbers".

"The changes introduced by the FIE on 4 April 2023 deprived the organisers of the World Cup - PZS and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań - of any influence on the process of acceptance of registered players and support staff and, moreover, the method of checking the links between such persons and aggression in Ukraine, introduced by the FIE, different from the one previously proposed by the PZS, and based on unspecified premises, does not guarantee proper verification of these persons," a statement from the PZS read.

It is no surprise to see Poland pull the plug on its event given that the country has welcomed more Ukrainian refugees than any other country since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February last year.

But for the FIE and the IOC this is the latest blow in its efforts to conduct its Olympic qualification process with Russian and Belarusian involvement as neutrals after organisers of the Fencing World Cups in Tauberbischofsheim in Germany and Saint-Maur-des-Fossés in France called those events off.

The cancellation of the event in Tauberbischofsheim has added significance given it is the town where Bach grew up and lived with his parents until 1977 - a year after winning Olympic gold.

Claudia Bokel, the head of the German Fencing Federation who is a former chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, claimed that "geopolitics" had influenced the FIE’s controversial decision.

FIE members decided by 85 to 51 in favour of allowing fencers from Russia and Belarus to compete in international events again following a vote at the organisation’s Extraordinary Congress held online on March 10.

More than 300 fencers sent an open letter to Bach and FIE Acting President Emmanuel Katsiadakis, urging them to reconsider their moves.

The letter posted on March 28 described the FIE vote to reinstate Russian and Belarusian fencers as a "catastrophic error" and accused the International Federation of "not fulfilling its duty of care for athletes, particularly Ukrainians".

But their efforts fell on deaf ears with the IOC Executive Board opting to lift the ban on athletes from the two countries while the FIE’s stance remains unchanged.

There was a time when Ukraine’s Guttsait and Russia’s Pozdnyakov were friends and team-mates.

The duo were on the same United Team that claimed team sabre gold at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.

But they are now arch enemies with Guttsait leading the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine and Pozdnyakov in charge of the Russian Olympic Committee.

Guttsait, who is the Ukrainian Sports Minister, is also a former President of the National Fencing Federation of Ukraine and a member of the FIE Executive Committee but was unable to block the return of Russians and Belarusians.

Ukrainian Olympic triple jump bronze medallist Olga Saladukha claimed last month that Guttsait should have done more to use his position in the sport to have prevented the move.

"It is from [Guttsait] that we must learn how it happened that the enemy took revenge and whether we made adequate efforts to prevent it," Saladukha wrote on Telegram.

"I am sure that Mr. Guttsait has this information and has a 'plan B' so that the decision of the FIE does not become a precedent for other federations."

Pozdnyakov, a four-time Olympic gold medallist, led the European Fencing Confederation (EFC) for six years before being removed after a vote at an Extraordinary Congress last May.

The EFC Executive Committee conducted a unanimous vote of no confidence in Pozdnyakov because of his conduct following the invasion of Ukraine.

Pozdnyakov recently branded the IOC’s recommendations against his nation as a "farce" and predicted that some of the restrictions would be loosened.

"Undoubtedly, before the 2024 Games, the IOC will largely review the unfair and unacceptable conditions," Pozdnyakov told Russia’s official state news agency TASS.

While Pozdnyakov thinks restrictions will be eased, the EFC - the continental body now run by Italian official Giorgio Scarso - has posted a "message from EFC athletes" on its website that aims to increase the pressure on the IOC to reverse its decision.

"As an indirect consequence of the IOC’s decision several nationalities will not be able to participate in the World Cup competition due to their state-mandated boycotts," the message read.

"Especially at the beginning of the Olympic year, this could very well mean the end of a fencer’s career.

"Allowing such makes the previously noble sport of fencing morally inferior, with long-lasting negative impact on the image of our dear sport."

So far, Poland, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and France have called off staging tournaments and more European-based events could follow suit in protest of the reintroduction of Russians and Belarusians.

The fallout in fencing is a potential glimpse into what other International Federations could face in Europe if they open the door to athletes from Russia and Belarus.

For now, the fencing rebellion has left the sport which has been a constant feature at the Olympic Games and adored by Bach, Guttsait and Pozdnyakov facing increasing uncertainty before Paris 2024.