Australia's Toby Kane in action in the giant slalom at the men's Paralympic Games. Picture: Getty Images Source: Tom Pennington / Getty Images
AUSTRALIA'S only medallist at this week's Sochi Paralympics, Toby Kane, has become the first from his country to win the prestigious Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award in recognition of his service to sport and humanity.
Just hours after closing the book on his alpine skiing career which took him to three Paralympic Games for two bronze medals, the 27-year-old was honoured at a special ceremony in Rosa Khutor.
One male and female athlete is chosen for the award at every games and the female winner in Russia is Dutch snowboarder Bibian Mentel-Spee.
Kane, a single leg amputee who won bronze medal in the standing super-combined on Friday, is considered the heartbeat of the Australian team on the snow and is just as respected off it as he prepares to finish his medical degree in Melbourne.
He said he was "honoured and humbled" to have been nominated and then chosen from 17 other male athletes to receive the award.
Australian Paralympic Committee chief executive Jason Hellwig said Kane had always been a leader but most recently he played a crucial role in helping his teammates deal with the death of snowboarding teammate Matthew Robinson just a month before the Games.
"He is an outstanding person not just an outstanding athlete and when you think about the words that define the Paralympic movement - courage, determination, quality, there is no athlete that I think embodies that better than Toby," Hellwig said.
"In this particular campaign he's become the leader in a really difficult month for the whole team.
"He was the guy we all looked to to help bring everyone together and to focus. Absolutely after Matt passed away we needed someone in the athlete group with the leadership ability and character to help get everyone through it."
Australia's Toby Kane celebrates winning bronze at Sochi. Picture: Getty Images Source: Getty Images
The Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award honours athletes who most exemplify the spirit of the Paralympic Games and excite and inspire the world.
Meanwhile on day eight of competition in Sochi, Victorian Mitchell Gourley crashed out of the giant slalom after going into the race as the world number one, but said he was satisfied he at least went down with a fight.
He was fourth after the first run and attempting to break onto the podium, lost control just metres from the finish of his second.
"We came here saying we'd rather go down fighting than ski conservative and come eighth," Gourley said.
"I'm gutted but in saying that I think I can hold my head high, I went down swinging and I had to.
"You look at the three guys on the podium and they've all won a bunch of medals this week and are incredible skiers.
"I was one one-hundredth of a second out off there going in and I had to to put it down, I did everything I could to do that and unfortunately came up short four gates from the bottom.
"It's been a tough games, 0.2 off a medal yesterday, a good ski in the downhill then some battles with three DNFs but it is what it is."
Gourley said he was undecided about whether he would ski on to 2018.
"I'm not 100 per cent sure what I'm doing with my future and I've said that all along," he said.
"I need a little bit of time away from the sport and have a bit of reflection then cross that bridge when we come to it."
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