Aussie Olympian David Morris’ emotional call with mum battling cancer
Aussie aerial skier David Morris has shared an emotional call he made to his sick mum after his controversial finish at the Winter Olympics.
Morris came in at number 10, just missing the final in PyeongChang after a Chinese rival was marked higher despite falling after landing.
In December last year, the 33-year-old athlete was told that his mother Margaret had been diagnosed with lung cancer, leaving him with the difficult decision on whether to compete in the games or stay home to support her.
After his controversial exit, Morris shared a video call with his mum to 9NEWS.
"I'm so proud of you," Mrs Morris told her son during the call.
"How you handled yourself after your huge disappointment makes me really, really proud."
Morris said he forced himself to be selfish to not let the situation distract him from the competition.
Now, the only priority the Aussie skier has is to return to Melbourne to be with his mum.
"I'll come back and we can deal with everything as a family because we have been putting it off for months - all the emotion," he said.
"It hurts on the inside."
Morris only needed one skier to falter to progress to the final nine skiers and it looked as if he was going to make it through when China’s Jia Zongyang stumbled and fell after his landing.
But, the jump scored higher than Morris as the fall happened outside a four-metre zone after the runout.
In the final, Jia later took the silver coming behind Ukraine’s Oleksandr Abramenko.
Morris and his coach questioned the decision but ultimately accepted it with good sportsmanship.
"It is what it is," he said.
"It's a judged sport. Sometimes it sucks. Sometimes it's in our favour.
"We don't complain when it's in our favour. And if we really have issues with it we should take up another sport that is timed so we can't argue times."
Image credit: 9NEWS