Excerpted from “A Legacy of Fencing”:

The life and times of Maestro George Pogosov, also known as Heorhiy Vadimovich Pohosov, is one dedicated to Olympic fencing. Born in Kiev in 1960, he was a junior world champion in 1980, six-time world champion, and two-time Olympic medallist (silver and gold), already living a full life of fencing before he began coaching the Ukrainian team years later. He earned his master’s degree in physical education with a focus on fencing and graduated from the National University of Physical Education and Sport of Ukraine, and a diploma from the Tyschler Fencing Academy. He has trained with some of the world’s greatest saber coaches, and now, as the co-head coach of the Stanford University fencing team since 1999, has evolved his talents into developing collegiate fencers.

There is another facet to Maestro Pogosov’s passion for fencing: He has amassed what is arguably one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive collections of world- and Olympic-champion fencing memorabilia in the form of photos, autographs, and other personalized mementos from major world fencing events. Whether it is an exceedingly rare autographed photo of the Nadi brothers, an Amsterdam 1928 Olympics card signed by the entire Hungarian men’s team, or an image of fencing action from virtually any decade in more than the last century, this collection has a bit of everything that is fencing. To peruse the collection is to walk through the history of a noble and enduring sport that has been in the Olympic Games since its modern beginning in 1896 and continues to grow and thrive today.

The collection fills dozens of racks that fill a basketball stadium. In a word, it is immense. This book catalogs these treasures in one place, where the faces and weapons of elite fencing come together in a bold statement of Olympic and world sports.

Special Note: The entire “Legacy of Fencing” collection — containing thousands of photographs, autographs, and treasures of fencing — is available in its entirety for acquisition. Please contact Maestro George Pogosov for full details. Serious inquiries only.

You are invited to explore fencing’s past, through the eyes of Maestro Pogosov. Spend some time imagining fencing as it was, and, in many ways, still is today. Standing on its own, the collection itself is a work of art and lifetime achievement making a bold statement about the depth, culture, and heritage of fencing.