In Sevens circles 'Johnny' Zhang Zhiqiang is already considered a legend, but China's best-known rugby ambassador has yet to fulfil his legacy - and that, he hopes, will be coaching the China sevens team at the 2016 Olympics.
The game on the mainland is about to receive a huge shot in the arm thanks to its readmittance to the Olympic movement, although in the abbreviated Sevens version.
International Olympic leaders last month selected rugby sevens and golf for proposed inclusion in the 2016 summer Games, and the full 106-member IOC assembly is expected to give its final approval at a meeting in Copenhagen next month.
Zhang has captained the China national team for the past 10 years, is the highest all-time individual points scorer at the Hong Kong Sevens, has trained alongside former England captain Martin Johnson during a stint at Leicester Tigers and has been a familiar face in Hong Kong club rugby for the past 11 years.
The 35-year-old from a Shandong martial arts family will play his last Hong Kong Sevens next March, retire after the Asian Games in Guangzhou next November and then attempt to leave behind an even greater legacy.
'I would like to help coach the team into the Olympics and give them the benefits of all I learnt playing overseas,' he says. 'Our greatest rivals in Asia are Japan and Korea. I believe that with good coaching, we can overpower them.'
As Zhang awaits next month's rubber stamp for rugby to reclaim its Olympic status - it featured in Paris 1900, London 1908, Antwerp 1920 and Paris 1924 - Zhang doesn't seem too perturbed his playing career will be long over.