Mysterious Australian icon stuns Beijing 2022 debutant Cooper Woods with surprise text: ‘You were robbed’

Amid the many congratulatory messages new Australian moguls star Cooper Woods received after his Winter Olympics debut, one from the “top dog” of the sport stood out.

Olympic champion and Australia’s first mogul medallist Dale Begg-Smith sent the 21-year-old a text to not only congratulate him on his sixth-placed performance, but to tell him he was robbed.

Woods had never met Begg-Smith, who disappeared off the radar after he won Olympic gold in 2006 and a controversial silver four years later in Vancouver.

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He didn’t know that the Caribbean-based businessman still watched moguls or how he got his number.

But he was blown away that Begg-Smith took time to find it and to message him.

“He sent me a message that congratulated me on the event,” Woods told AAP.

“He wrote: ‘I thought you deserved third place. You went really well. All the best - Dale.’

“It was just a small message but it was from the top dog - he was one of the greatest in the sport.

“For him to watch and say I did well, it’s a just a massive confidence boost.”

Woods has the same coach, Steve Desovich, who Begg-Smith had while in the Australian team.

Begg-Smith was also a mentor for current Olympian Matt Graham when he was starting out.

Canadian-born Begg-Smith was always a controversial figure due to his business outside skiing, that reportedly made computer spyware and turned him into a millionaire.

Woods, who was only 10 when Begg-Smith competed in 2010, said all he recalled from the competition was that the Australian skier should have won gold, with the medal instead going to local hero Alexandre Bilodeau.

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