Sushil Kumar is India's most decorated wrestler. He has the distinction of being the country's only real Olympic medallist in an individual event and also the first Indian to win a wrestling world championship.
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At the Beijing 2008 Games, Sushil Kumar combined India's list of Olympic medallists with his bronze at the 66kg category, the country's first Olympic wrestling trophy as Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav's bronze in 1952.
Four decades later at London 2012, the star Indian wrestler additional more glitter to catapult over it using a silver decoration.
His next Olympic medal set in stone the heritage of Sushil Kumar and in more ways than one, it epitomised his soul and utter love for the sport.
"Aside from wrestling, '' I don't understand much else," says the three-time Olympian.
Produced in Baprola village in South West Delhi, he had been inspired to take up wrestling by his father as well as a cousin and became among Wrestling Federation of India's (WFI) most celebrated athletes with private accolades such as the Arjuna Award, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and the Padma Shri in his own cupboard.
After training in the renowned Chhatrasal Stadium by age 14, Sushil Kumar obtained his first taste of success at the 1998 World Cadet Games where he won gold and followed that up with another gold at the Asian Junior Wrestling Championship two years later.
His first two or three adventures in older tournaments ended with him winning bronze in the Asian Wrestling Championships and gold in the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in 2003.
His first Olympic appearance saw him achieve a 14th spot finish in the 60 pound weight class at Athens 2004.
Even though he couldn't really make the impact he'd hoped for, the experience of Athens was invaluable for Sushil Kumar, who rediscovered his best form to bag bronze in the 2006 Asian Games and win gold medals in the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in 2005 and 2007.
His wins functioned as great prep and helped him develop in confidence heading to the 2008 Beijing Games.
He went past Doug Schwab of the USA and subsequently won against Belarus' Albert Batyrov after staging a comeback at the match. In the bronze fixture, he got the better of Kazakh Leonid Spiridonov 3-2 to earn his medal.
The Indian freestyle wrestler continued to increase in stature after his Olympic bronze and in 2010 became the first Indian to win a world wrestling title with a victory over the local favourite in the final of the World Wrestling Championships.
The identical year saw him win the first of his three consecutive gold medals in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
The Indian wrestler's most memorable moment yet, however, came at the 2012 London Olympics. In still another match, he turned into a 0-2 deficit round to select the match against the Turkish grappler.
He then went beyond Ikhtiyor Navruzov and Akzhurek Tanatarov to reach the final where he met Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu. While the Japanese wrestler proved too demanding, Sushil Kumar became the first Indian to acquire individual Olympic medals on two occasions, this time with silver.
After missing out on the Rio Games, Sushil Kumar is going to be targeting his fourth Olympic look starting with the Olympic qualifiers at which he could get a chance to stake his claim for a Tokyo Olympics berth.
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