‘I’m not sure I had fun’. Milton’s bitter end to Games after 20-year comeback

Cortina: The Winter Paralympics ended with more snowfall in one day than the entire week of competition before it. As one of few Australians competing on the last day of events, Michael Milton opened his window in the athlete’s village and thought, “that’s a lot”.

“Definitely makes for a challenging day, but it’s not the first time I’ve done this. I’m an experienced athlete.”

Experienced, he is. A six-time gold medallist across five Winter Paralympic Games, Milton announced his comeback at the end of last year. It was a decision made all the more significant for being 20 years and two cancer diagnoses after his last Games.

But at the end of a long week, Milton made his own conclusions about the success of his comeback before anyone else could.

In fact, Milton made routine assessments after every run down the mountain he did.

The first doubts crept in for the 52-year-old after his performance in the super-G on Tuesday when he finished 23rd of 33 entrants.

‘I’m not sure I had any fun at all this week.’

An honest Michael Milton after the Winter Paralympics

“I’m proud of the effort, but certainly, the skiing was a bit pathetic,” he said.

The day after, his criticisms expanded to the whole venture.

“I thought it might be fun, I’m not sure I was right,” he said.

By the time his final day of racing arrived, Milton’s mind was made up. When asked whether he had enough fun in the last week of racing in the Italian Dolomites, he said, “absolutely not”.

“You know I’m not sure I had any fun at all this week.”

At the bottom of the Tofane Mountain, Milton wasn’t laughing.

“Lots of reasons for that. Definitely, there are some goals that have a tick by them, but not that one,” he said.

None of it was made easier by last-minute challenges, including a broken femur a month out from the Games, his family’s week-long diversion in the Middle East instead of them being in Venice with him, and erratic weather conditions throughout the week, which saw races postponed and finals brought forward by entire days.

Milton had more planned for himself than what could be achieved in the conditions. But more than that, he had more planned for this version of himself, as decided by his near-perfect standards of the past.

“When you’re skiing, if it’s easy, you can be close to perfect,” he said on Tuesday. “As things get tougher, whether it be snow, weather, [the] hill, mental challenges, injury – then you’ve got to be a bit more forgiving of yourself, to say: ‘hey, I’m not going to ski this perfect’.”

“There’s plenty of times where I’ve won races skiing what I thought was quite poorly … So yeah, I called my skiing pathetic. I was happy with the effort, and that’s all I can really focus on post-injury and coming back.”

But even though none have shared the criticism that he has waged on himself, Milton hasn’t yet counted his losses and moved on.

“No matter what happens, it’ll be another four years before I do another Paralympic event. And I’m not saying I will, but I’m not saying I won’t, and you won’t get that out of me this week,” he said. “Next time you ask, it’ll involve swearing at the end.”

After his final race, the journalists pooled at the bottom of the hill asked again whether he would return for another Games. Milton delivered on the promise: “F— off. Has anybody ever told you to f– off in an interview before? Because I want to be the first.”

This time, however, he did laugh.

This masthead has travelled to Cortina as a guest of Paralympics Australia.

The Winter Paralympic Games is broadcast on the Nine Network, 9Now and Stan Sport.