JAKARTA: Indonesia's weightlifting golden great has come a long way since herding goats as a boy in rural Lampung, southern Sumatra.
Eko Yuli Irawan, a three-time Olympic medallist at 62kg, was already such a hero in his home country that Indonesian president Joko Widodo came to watch him win gold at the Asian Games on Tuesday.
It's a far cry from his upbringing in a poor family -- father Saman used to work as a pedicab driver and mother Wastiah sold vegetables.
Irawan helped out after attending elementary school by earning a few rupiahs tending goats as a child in the fields.
But in those days his sporting ambitions were very different.
While keeping an eye on the goats he dreamt of being a professional footballer one day, and still lists his sporting hero as Cristiano Ronaldo.
But, destined to be only 5ft 2in (158cm) tall, football was never going to be a realistic career prospect and his dream finally ended when his family couldn't afford for him to join a soccer school because of the registration fee.
He was drawn down an altogether different sporting path when he witnessed a group of people practising weightlifting at a local club.
In his fleeting spare time between schoolwork and goat-herding he tried out lifting and showed so much promise the club coach eventually invited Irawan to train.
He went on to become a national icon as the first Indonesian to win medals at three Olympics and is now gunning for a fourth -- gold this time -- at Tokyo 2020.
But he still remembers those humble roots and says his time looking after the goats gave him a valuable lesson in discipline.
"We had to be responsible," he said after winning his gold medal. "We were very poor. If I lost a goat I had to pay for it."