Best friends with Hamilton and partying with Rihanna - the man 'ruffling feathers' in fencing

Miles Chamley-Watson still remembers the moment he arrived at his Met Gala table nine years ago and surveyed the world's most glamorous fashion event.

With Madonna to his right and Rihanna on his left, the London-born American fencer was the unexpected filling in a pop royalty sandwich. Also on his table was seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton, who has since become Chamley-Watson's "best friend".

For someone whose primary vocation lies in one of the Olympics' most niche sports, it was an unlikely position to be in.

"I was like: 'Wow, what am I doing here?'" recalls Chamley-Watson. "It was wild – I'd watched these people and grown up listening to them, and I was at the same table.

"You realise everybody here is the best at what they do. It was really, really cool. That was my first taste of celebrity stardom.

"I was probably the one person at the table where everyone was like: 'Who the hell is this blonde, 6ft 5in guy that fences?' After that, things changed for me."

Chamley-Watson, 36, has been one of the world's leading fencers for more than a decade.

He has competed at three Olympics, winning team bronze in 2016, and became the first American male to win an individual world title when he claimed foil gold in 2013.

His latest dream is to take the sport mainstream with this week's launch of his World Fencing League.

But it was a move into fashion modelling after his Olympic debut at London 2012 that propelled him into an entirely different public sphere – a world of fame and private jets not often associated with fencing.

Over the past year, Chamley-Watson has launched his own Nike trainer, partnered with a raft of luxury brands, and appeared in a campaign alongside supermodel Claudia Schiffer.

He describes Hamilton as a "brother", and his 450,000 Instagram followers are regularly treated to images of the pair enjoying themselves together around the world.

The man with the social media handle @fencer has become disproportionately bigger than the sport itself.

"My life is so insane," he admits. "I want to tell my team-mates and want to talk to them about it, but it's just so unrelatable. Even for me, it's really nuts."

It is a far cry from his humble beginnings and unusual route into the sport. Raised in London until his family relocated to New York when he was nine, Chamley-Watson describes himself as a "bad kid" growing up.

Having struggled with severe ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and been expelled from a number of schools, he received a grant to attend a leading private school in Manhattan. The condition was that he must enrol in either tennis, badminton or fencing as a means of channelling focus. He chose the latter.

"If you think about fencing, we're sword-fighting," says the Arsenal fan, whose English accent is still evident decades after leaving London. "I was like: 'Sick, this is the coolest sport there is.'"

His schoolwork improved and he found he possessed a natural fencing affinity. But Chamley-Watson says he felt like he "didn't belong".

"Growing up, there was nobody that looked like me," he added.

"But once I started winning, it didn't really matter where I came from. You put your mask on and we're all the same.

"That's why fencing is so unique. It's like Bruce Wayne turning into Batman. You put your mask on and you feel you can do anything you want.

"But I did not feel comfortable at all. I've been dealing with racism in the sport since I was 14."

Those experiences have played a significant role in his creation of the World Fencing League, which launches on Saturday in Los Angeles.

His hope is for the competition to take the sport mainstream so that "boys, girls, brown, black, anyone from all walks of life" are inspired to try fencing.

The inaugural event sees 12 of the world's top fencers split into two teams, competing for a prize pot of $100,000 (£74,000) – an amount unheard of in a sport that struggles for professionalism.

Employing modified scoring and new AI blade-tracking technology to allow viewers to see the swords' rapid movements, the aim is to make fencing "shorter, easier to understand and more visually appealing".

Not everyone is onboard, with some traditionalists unsupportive of the new format.

"Unfortunately, you do have to ruffle some feathers to really make a massive change in the sport, especially one like fencing that is so traditional," says Chamley-Watson. "We have the ability to change a sport forever."

Seven-time Olympic gymnastics champion Simone Biles is among a host of high-profile sports and entertainment figures to post about the event on social media, with an abundance of VIPs expected at Saturday's event. So, will Ferrari driver Hamilton be there?

"He's my best friend, so what would a best friend do?" says Chamley-Watson. "When you have someone like that, any time you're not working you'll support each other. There is no F1 race that weekend so there's your answer."

Fencing is about to become a lot more glamorous.