Injured snowboarder Cam Bolton will be medically transported back to Australia from Italy, but before that he made time to congratulate his gold medal-winning teammate Josie Baff.
Bolton was ruled out of his fourth Olympics after fracturing his neck and back in a scary training accident before his race and was airlifted to a Milan hospital from Livigno in the Italian alps.
The Australian Olympic team issued a statement on Friday saying he will now be sent back home to Melbourne for further assessment and treatment.
"The Australian Olympic medical team have been consulting with expert Australian spinal surgeons to discuss Cam Bolton's case management, medically and holistically," the statement read.
"As a result, a decision has been made that the best and safest line of management is for Cam to return to Melbourne, Australia where he will have further definitive treatment.
"An expert international medical transfer company will transport Cam to Australia ... on Monday, February 16 accompanied by a specialist retrieval doctor and nurse."
The injury rocked the men's team with his long-time room-mate Adam Lambert bowing out in the opening round despite entering the Games on the back of a World Cup win.
"I never want to see a teammate, let alone a friend, go down with such a terrible injury," a teary Lambert said after his race.
"He's playing it down but it's hard to watch somebody who you've looked up to your whole life go out like that, and then have to get airlifted to hospital.
"Yeah, it affected me a little bit."
Baff managed to put the shock injury aside as she blitzed the field to win Australia's second gold of the Games.
"Someone just became a household name overnight - well done," 35-year-old Bolton posted in a video to Baff.
"I'm just so incredibly proud of you - I can't believe how much work you've put in over the years and being able to see that has been a real pleasure.
"I've been able to see you develop from the little girl in the pink helmet to now, an absolute monster in a pink helmet - a world beater and an Olympic champion."
Watching the video, Baff said Bolton had been a big part of her career.
"Very early on in Beijing I remember a lot of conversations and after that we had a very, very close relationship," the 23-year-old said.
"He's taught me a lot. Cam definitely had a very big part tactically early on and with also my belief in things like he was always telling that I could do it.
"Even yesterday, he sent me a message saying like you can win this race, so to see that message from him is super special because it does feel like a big chunk of the team is missing without him here."
Meanwhile, luckless freeskier Daisy Thomas has withdrawn from the big air competition, meaning the 18-year-old won't make her Olympic debut due to knee "instability".
