Cooper Woods won a national bravery medal as a child - 15 years later he dared to dream of another big prize and captured Olympic gold in the men's mogul.
Stamping himself as a new star in the sport, the Australian skier advanced through four rounds of competition in the mountains of Livigno before securing a shock triumph.
Woods has struggled to convert his huge talent into results with just one podium from 51 World Cup starts, although he did finish sixth at the Beijing Olympics.
But the 25-year-old delivered on the biggest sporting stage of all, beating two legends of the sport in Canada's Mikael Kingsbury and Japan's Akuma Horishima to top spot on the podium.
He was last out of the gates in the eight-man final but tore through the bumps and nailed both jumps to be awarded the same score as Kingsbury, who last month became the first skier to amass 100 wins on the sport's top circuit, both scoring 83.71.
The tiebreaker in moguls is the "turns" score, with Woods winning that element 48.40 to 47.70.
Comparisons have been made to Stephen Bradbury, the short track speed-skater who was a highly credentialled competitor but also pulled off a shock result when he won Australia's first Winter gold medal in 2002 after his rivals famously fell over in the 1000m final.
But Woods couldn't rely on the top-shelf field failing, with the gold fully reliant on him delivering his best under immense pressure.
"This season I've struggled with a lot of self-belief - I've had such a good year of training but not competing and what a time to get it dialled and sorted," said Woods, who grew up in Pambula Beach on the NSW far south coast.
"There's something when there's so much pressure where you can just let it all go and embrace it.
"Happened in Beijing too, where I was, 'I got nothing to lose let's have a go at it'".
His triumph comes a day after Jakara Anthony looked certain to successfully defend her moguls Olympic title only to have a shock stumble in the final.
At age 10, Woods won the national Pride of Australia Medal in the Child of Courage category for rescuing a drowning friend who had knocked herself out falling off a waterfall.
That childhood friend Amalia was one of many fans cheering him on while Woods's family had travelled from Australia with his three younger brothers watching him race for the first time.
Hurtling down a 250m almost vertical course showed a different kind of bravery, but Woods went full-tilt.
He said being the new Olympic champion hadn't really sunk in.
"It's something you dream of, day in, day out, as a kid, through the hard days, through the good days.
"It's an absolute journey, and a lot of people don't get to be in this position.
"But you know what, I'm very proud of the hard work and the sacrifice and the moments that I've shared with people around the world and more importantly, my family.
"I don't spend a lot of time back home in Australia, we don't have a lot of snow, so it's everyone's medal, not just mine."
Australia had three men advance to the top eight medal round - Woods, Matt Graham and debutant Jackson Harvey.
Graham placed fifth and Harvey eighth, with Australia's flagbearer Graham lifting Woods aloft in celebration.
Woods's triumph represents Australia's third gold medal in the moguls following successes by Dale Begg-Smith the last time the Games were in Italy, Turin 2006, and Anthony in Beijing four years ago.
It is Australia's seventh Winter Olympic gold overall.
Woods and his teammates still have the dual moguls, which has been added to the Olympic program in Milan-Cortina.
But that wouldn't dampen his plans to celebrate with his family and friends, who had travelled from Australia before Saturday's event.
"I'm probably going to have a few beers," he said, with a big party assembling in Livigno.
Looking at his medal he added: "I might get in trouble for this, but it's a pretty nice-looking beer coaster."
