Fencing - Team ROC

General
The ROC women's sabre team qualified for Tokyo 2020 as one of the four highest-ranked teams in the world. Previously, the Russian Federation won the title at the most recent editions of the Olympic Games, world championships and European championships.

The Russian Federation participated at both editions of the Olympic Games in which the event has been contested. In 2008 in Beijing, the Russian team were eliminated by eventual gold medallists Ukraine at the quarterfinal stage. Victories over South Africa and Poland in the classification rounds secured a fifth-place finish for the team on debut. At the 2016 Games the Russian Federation scuppered Ukraine's bid to defend their Olympic title from 2008. The two teams met in the final in Rio, with the Russians reversing the quarterfinal result from eight years previously to take the gold medal.

The Russian Federation is the dominant team at the world championships, where they have amassed more world titles and total medals than any other nation. Their tally of eight world titles is well clear of their closest rivals France, the United States of America and Italy on three apiece, and their record of 13 total medals is two ahead of the French team. At the 2019 World Championships in Budapest, they faced France in the final, and emerged victorious 45-40.

It is a similar story of dominance at continental level, with the Russian Federation collecting 12 titles and 18 total medals at the European championships since 2000. At the most recent edition of the tournament in 2019 in Dusseldorf, they restricted each of their opponents to less than 40 points on their way to a second consecutive title.