Matt Graham says ground-breaking Dale Begg-Smith continues to have an impact on the Australian Olympic team 20 years after he won the country's first moguls gold medal.
Graham claimed his second Olympic medal with a bronze in the dual moguls in Milan-Cortina, eight years after his silver in PyeongChang.
He credited Begg-Smith's Olympic gold in 2006 as being the light-bulb moment when the now 31-year-old decided to pursue a career in freestyle skiing.
"At that point I was pretty well and truly involved in the sport in 2006, I was maybe 12 and that was sort of when I realised that that's what I wanted to do, and it wasn't long after that that he sort of mentored me a lot through those late 2010s and into my first Olympics in Sochi," Graham said after his moguls medals.
Australia's flag-bearer in Italy, Graham said he was still in regular contact with Begg-Smith, who was also controversially denied gold at the 2010 Games.
The enigmatic Canadian-born former athlete, who switched allegiance as a teen, became a tech entrepreneur billionaire with his business allegedly in online pop-up advertising and malware.
Now reportedly living in the Cayman Islands, Begg-Smith still reached out to the Australian athletes in Milan-Cortina.
"It's really cool that he's still in contact a bit and still passionate about the sport and sometimes I guess what he's done for our sport goes very unnoticed, but it's really cool the legacy he's sort of left," said Graham.
"We've been in contact a lot recently actually, he's called me a bunch of times and I sent him all the videos from the other day and he offered me some advice, as he always does.
"He's still very passionate about this sport and always wants Australia to do well."
Woods first heard from Begg-Smith at the Beijing Games when the now 41-year-old messaged him to tell him he was "robbed" and should have won a medal rather than finish sixth.
The 25-year-old said a message from the sport's "top dog" gave him belief he could eventually climb the Olympic podium.
"It was just a small message but it was from the top dog - he was one of the greatest in the sport," Woods told AAP.
"For him to watch and say I did well, it's a just a massive confidence boost."
After his Milan-Cortina triumph Woods said he got a follow-up message from Begg-Smith: "Well done, you were clearly the best skier of the day - a bit different to Beijing - congratulations".
