Braian Toledo knew from a very young age that he wanted to compete in javelin on the world stage, and overcame tremendous obstacles to reach his goal.
All of which has made it doubly sad he has been killed in a road crash, aged just 26.
The Argentinian athlete was born in 1993 in Marcos Paz, where he shared a one-bedroom house with his mother and two brothers.
He was encouraged to try his hand at sport in school and, by 12, already had his heart set on track and field events.
Combining his natural talent with an extensive training regime, Mr Toledo scooped a bronze medal at the 2008 South American Youth Championships.
He followed this up with a gold at the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships and a bronze in the World Youth Championships the following year.
Not content with stopping there, Mr Toledo had his sights set on the world’s largest sporting competition.
On August 22, 2010, he threw a javelin 81.78m – almost five metres ahead of his nearest rival – to take the gold medal at the inaugural Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore.
Mr Toledo then replaced his 700g javelin with the men’s competition standard 800g.
Later that same year, he broke a long-standing youth record in the sport – and repeated the feat a further four times over the course of one competition.
After turning 16, he made his Olympic Games debut at London 2012. He qualified in the javelin throw, but finished 30th out of 44 competitors.
He came closer to the podium at Rio 2016, when he finished 10th.
After a first-place finish at the South American Championships in 2017 and bronze medal at the South American Games, Toledo had his sights set on further sporting glory at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
This was cut short, however, when he died in a motorcycle crash on Friday.
Some of the greatest athletes his home country has produced paid tribute.
Footballing superstar Diego Maradona uploaded a heartfelt post on Instagram while 1990 US Open winner Gabriela Sabatini said Toledo “radiated love”.
President of the Argentine Olympic Committee, Gerardo Werthein, said: “We have lost a great person, our dear Braian Toledo.
“My condolences to the whole family in this heart-breaking and sad moment.”
A statement from World Athletics said the organisation was “deeply saddened”.
