Kelly Sildaru talks message from the President, and how she can't wait to hug her dog Kira the husky

Kelly Sildaru claiming Estonia's first ever Winter Olympic freestyle skiing medal is one of the more inspiring stories at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

For a start, Estonia doesn't even have any mountains, let alone any with enough snow to learn to ski. So for Sildaru to reach the peak of freeski and step up on an Olympic podium is a massive achievement.

"I think I'm kind of still in shock," she tells Olympics.com on the final day of action in Beijing.

"And I think I haven't really realised it yet. It's probably going to happen when I'm going back home and see all my family and everyone, everybody like being so happy for me. Then I'll then I'll probably realise that I actually won an Olympic medal."

After her third-place finish in the women's slopestyle, won by breakout star Ailing Eileen Gu, Estonia and the whole of the freeski world has been jumping on the congratulations pile-on.

"I've got so many different messages from my friends, from random people in Estonia who were cheering me on, friends, family, also the Estonian President and Prime Minister."

She was so close to another podium too, finishing fourth in the women's halfpipe, also won by Gu. After an injury at the worst time possible kept Sildaru out of PyeongChang 2018, she was happy just being at Beijing - and being healthy.

"It's been a really great experience," continues Sildaru.

"And I'm happy that I made it this year because during the whole season I was a little worried that maybe I would injure myself and the same thing would happen to me that happened in 2018.

"So, yeah, I was a little nervous, but I made it here. I'm healthy, and that's good."

Read on to find out what it was like to be Estonia's flagbearer, who her best friend on tour is, and