Cooper Woods reveals 'happy tears' he shed after reality of Olympic gold medal set in
Updated . First published at
It wasn't until Cooper Woods was left alone in his bedroom the reality of being an Olympic gold medallist had began to sink in.
Woods became the seventh Australian athlete to win gold in the Olympic Winter Games after making two statement runs in the men's moguls final.
The 25-year-old was the last to hit the slopes in the super final and has since been caught up in all the gold-medal celebrations with his family and friends.
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"We've been celebrating and doing a little bit of media. There has been a little bit of skiing and apres going on," Woods laughed, speaking on 3AW's Wide World of Sports Radio.
"It has been the most wild week of my life. The amount of support has been insane."
Gold medallist Cooper Woods of Australia kisses his medal. Xinhua News Agency via Getty Ima
As it typically is, it is hard to find time to be alone after winning gold, but Woods admits he only just recently had a moment to sit down and reflect on his achievements.
But he did not expect that moment to be overcome by strong emotions.
"No one knows this actually, but I had my first hour to myself with nothing on or nothing to do," Woods said.
"I ended up just sitting at the end of my bed in tears of happiness. I just had a moment where it started to sink in as to what is going on. Mate, it was beautiful.
"I called my mum actually (after) and she was freaking out, but they were happy tears."
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The next step for Woods is making the trip back to Australia to take some time away from the sport, although that break will not be too long for the Olympic champion.
Instead, he has plans to "give back to the community" on the slopes in Europe.
"I think I will float around back in Australia for a month," he said.
"Go home and hit some golf balls, then I'll shoot back off to Europe. I'll go to Sweden and hit the slopes there and do some coaching."
As for where his gold medal will stay during that time, host Jimmy Bartel gave Woods some ideas.
"Are you going to wear it for the next month? Use it as a coaster at Christmas dinner to rub it in to your siblings? Or are you going to frame it?" Bartel said.
Woods was quick to reply, laughing.
"You've led me in a good direction of using it as a beer coaster to rub it in to my brothers," he said.
"They actually used to give me a lot of crap for getting sixth place at the last Games, so it could be a nice little jab back to them.
"I think once I get back to Australia that it will probably just be time to put it away for a little bit and return back to that normal life, going out with friends, going for a surf.
"At the moment, it is over my neck 24/7, that is where it lives, as it should at the moment.
"When we get back and things sort of settle down, it will probably go in the undie draw."
