Doctors shattered Talgat Ilyasov's Olympic Games dream 12 years ago when they told him he risked never being able to walk again if he competed in Athens like he was supposed to.
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So when he picked up his boarding pass to Rio at the AIS earlier this week, it was no surprise that the 35-year-old tradie from Melbourne couldn't wipe the smile off his face.
Meet the softly spoken and unassuming Ilyasov who is originally from Uzbekistan but has spent the past 15 years ripping up tiles and doing odd jobs as a carpenter while fearing his Olympic dream would never be fulfilled.
Doctors found a bulging disc in his back on the eve of the Athens Olympics in 2004, ruling him out of competition because he didn't pass the medical examination and telling him he would never wrestle again.
For eight years he trained but never competed in wrestling. Then he made a full-time comeback this year and shocked everyone when he qualified for the Rio Games.
"My back was hurting so we checked it out and the doctors told me it wasn't safe to wrestle," Ilyasov said.
"When the doctors were telling me I might not walk, I wasn't thinking of what they were saying. I was thinking about a chance to go to the Olympics and I was missing it. So I didn't process it properly.
"It was devastating and it took a while before I could look at the Olympic Games again. In 2008 and 2012 I tried not to think about it, but now in 2016 I'm happy again.
"I kept training and my back felt all right ... there was no hurt, so I kept training. I love wrestling, I couldn't just stop, I needed my daily dose of grappling. And here I am, I still don't think about what the doctors said."
Ilyasov was one of four wrestlers given their boarding passes for the plane to Rio after winning their national titles and qualifying through the African and Oceania event in Algeria.
He will join Ivan Popov, Vinod Kumar and Sahit Prezreni in the Australian wrestling contingent.
Wrestling has been a way of life for Ilyasov since he was eight years old in Uzbekistan.
He moved to Australia in 2000 looking for an opportunity, but instead of being able to train full-time as a wrestler he started his own business doing plastering, tiling and any sort of renovation jobs.
"Everyone says that sort of work can't be good for your back, but I think because of my sort of training and fitness, lifting plasterboard is nothing. It's like training," Ilyasov said.
"When I came to Australia I was 19 and I was in the national Uzbekistan team and you get paid there. It's like being paid to be a professional footy player in Australia."
Ilyasov never gave up on what seemed like an impossible Olympic dream, trying his hand at ju-jitsu and winning the Australian Fighting Championships mixed martial arts competition on debut.
In the past 12 months he has won two Australian titles, the Australia Cup championships and Oceania trials and the Canada Cup of international wrestling in the 74-kilogram freestyle division.
He trains at the AIS combat centre in Canberra while also juggling his work in Melbourne.
When he was picked to compete as a 23-year-old for the 2004 Games, he was touted as Australia's best hope of winning an Olympic wrestling medal in 68 years.
He might be older, but the fire still burns to achieve his goal.
"It took a while for it to sink in that I'm finally going to an Olympics," Ilyasov said.
"That daily dose of wrestling kept me in a good physical state. Finally I'm going to an Olympics. This is something that I've dreamed of since I was kid and it is finally a reality. You can't just walk away from wrestling, you love it. It's like a family."
