Raised by a single mother in a village in southern Botswana, sport provided Letsile Tebogo with a route out of rural hardship.
Without his passion for football and athletics – which ultimately brought him the men's Olympic 200m gold medal last August – the 21-year-old sprinter admits his life could have been very different.
"Without sport, I [would] probably be a criminal by now," Tebogo told BBC Sport Africa.
"In the neighbourhood that I was growing up in, there were a lot of criminals. We thought that was the only way to survive."
Sporting pursuits in Kanye, some 80km from the capital Gaborone, helped to give structure to Tebogo's days.
First it was as a left winger on the football field, before he transitioned to track events in primary school.
"I knew I had to go from school [to] training, and you are tired. You don't have plenty of time to roam the streets, to go into people's houses," he said.
"Once I discovered that, I tried to pull in a few friends of mine.
"They are now playing football and we always talk about how if this [sport] didn't work out, where would we be?
"Sport has really helped me a lot."
- Leaving social media 'huge' - history-maker Tebogo
- 'A hyperactive child' - Tebogo's mum on his rise to success
Inspiring the next generation
Given his own childhood experiences, Tebogo is now on a mission to use the transformative power of sport to inspire the next generation in partnership with World Athletics.
He has been named as ambassador for the governing body's Kids' Athletics programme, which aims to encourage children to be more active.
"Athletics has given me so many opportunities, and I want young people to believe in themselves, dream big and enjoy the sport," he said.
"It's basically showing them direction, because if we have plenty of free time, we tend to do unlawful stuff.
"We start robbing, doing drugs and all that."
Tebogo's talents were well known across the continent before he clocked a new African record over 200m at Paris 2024, becoming Botswana's first ever Olympic gold medallist.
World Athletics president Lord Sebastian Coe believes ...
