The image of Siya Kolisi lifting the William Webb-Ellis Cup in Tokyo four years ago is undoubtedly one of the most iconic moments in the history of the Rugby World Cup.
Kolisi is not only a world-class player but a leader of men with his actions on and off the field of play inspiring millions around the globe. Prior to South Africa's World Cup win four years ago Kolisi had already made history by becoming the first black player to captain the Springboks.
The 32-year-old is now one of the most recognisable rugby players in the world and has become a role model for youngsters looking for a way out of poverty-stricken areas of South Africa hoping to make something of their lives. Kolisi is a player many people in South Africa, and around the world, can relate to given the way he has climbed out of adversity to become a modern-day rugby great.
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Here is Kolisi's story....
Background and upbringingKolisi was born in the Zwide Township of Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape just 16 months after the release of the great Nelson Mandela from prison. South Africa was in the process of transitioning out of the Apartheid era where the Springboks jersey once represented institutionalised racial segregation. Read my weekly column in our rugby newsletter
Kolisi was raised in poverty by his grandmother in a two-bedroomed house occupied by five people. Much of South Africa at the time was plagued by poverty, malnutrition, crime and substance abuse which affected Kolisi's early life.
"It went past being hungry; it was actually painful in your stomach," he told the BBC. "I could feel my intestines twisting in the middle of the night.
"I would scream to my grandmother and she would get me sugar water and it would settle it down. A lot of my values come from being resilient. The people from my community might be poor financially but they are happy, proud and resilient people."
Kolisi suffered a terrible blow at the age of 12 when his grandmother sadly died in his arms. "The one person who’d loved me unconditionally had gone, and without her, Zwide could seem an even scarier place than before," Kolisi wrote in his autobiography. But his life changed in 2002 when he joined the local rugby team the African Bombers, and acquired a good role model in head coach Eric Songwiqi.
Upon starting at Grey Junior School in Port Elizabeth, Kolisi could not speak a word of English with his primary language being isiXhosa.
Rise to prominenceHis rugby career really took off at Grey Junior School where he made the Eastern Province provincial team while also representing the South African schools side. Kolisi got picked up by the prestigious Western Province Rugby Institute in Stellenbosch where he would eventually earn the right to play in the Currie Cup.
He then played for South Africa U20s, and such was his potential he made his Super Rugby debut for the Stormers in 2011 as a replacement for Springbok legend Schalk Burger who was ill at the time. The abrasive back-rower made such a mark he was called into the Springboks squad for the first time in 2013 but his real breakthrough came in 2017 when he was one of the shining lights in what was arguably the worst campaign in the Springboks' history.
The Springboks parted ways with head coach Allister Coetzee, replacing him with the well-respected Rassie Erasmus who wasted no time in naming Kolisi captain. This was to be a significant turning point with South Africa rising like a phoenix from the ashes to lift the Webb-Ellis Cup in 2019.
Alcoholism and off-field challengesKolisi's career as a professional rugby player hasn't been all plain sailing. In his autobiography Rise Kolisi recalls his battle with alcohol, and how it very nearly cost him his family.
During the 2015 World Cup Kolisi wasn't a regular starter in the Springboks team and struggled to cope with it. "Whenever I had time off, I just drank," he wrote in his book. "I was bored and feeling sorry for myself, there were other guys around in the same boat who were always happy to hang out, and it was all too easy for me to hit the bars and pubs and be a good-time guy.
"Rachel [my wife] had come out with baby Nick, and this would have been the perfect opportunity to spend some time with them; but no, I preferred to be out with the boys. It was an awful time for her, and I was too selfish to realise. In the end Rachel got fed up with me being a jerk and flew home a week early.
"The trajectory of my life was bad. I had to stop behaving like this or else I'd lose my family. It wasn't 'stop drinking', because drinking would have been fine if I'd just had a couple of beers and stopped there. It was 'stop drinking until you're obliterated, each and every time'.
"Because that's what I was. Whenever I opened a drink it was as though there was a message at the bottom of the bottle saying 'drink me, keep on going'. I'd binge and not remember what had happened the night before."
Campaigning against racism and gender-based violenceKolisi is a great believer in using his own experiences to help make the world a better place. The 32-year-old feels very strongly about putting an end to gender-based violence having witnessed it himself in his youth.
"At home, like right next to me while I was sleeping, I'd wake up hearing the screaming of my mum or my aunt," he told the BBC. "Or I'd be walking to school and seeing someone getting beaten in the middle of the street and no-one doing anything about it because people felt it wasn't their business.
"Men don't speak about it, but men are the problem. Men are not protesting this, men are not asking the government to change. There are men that do, but it's always women [who protest]. I couldn't make a difference for my mum or for my aunt. But now I have a voice. I want to be one of the people who makes change, because I want change."
Growing up in a country filled with racial tension, Kolisi knows all about racism and the horrible effects it can have on people and society as a whole. His appointment as the Springboks' first black captain was a seminal moment in the history of South African rugby on a par with Francois Pienaar lifting the Webb-Ellis Cup alongside Mandela in 1995.
Kolisi has even experienced racism since becoming a Springbok with his wife, Rachel, who is white a victim. "That stuff should be addressed," he told the BBC. "People say you should take the good and the bad. No, I would rather have none of them.
"There's some stuff you can't handle. You shouldn't be getting that kind of hate. Everyone can have their opinions but can keep it to themselves. People should stand up a bit more. We work hard every day. You're not always going to win everything or perform.
"The social media groups should protect athletes and cut people off. When people do a horrible job in their work, no one gets to say those things to them."