Two-time medallist Alisa Camplin will join a select group of 14 international athletes - and 12,000 Canadians - by carrying the Olympic torch in the Yukon on Thursday (AEDT).
The retired aerial skier will run a leg of the torch relay in Dawson City, a small outpost in Canada's northern most territory.
The torch will make its way across 45,000km of Canada over the next three months before ending up in Vancouver in time for the start of the Winter Olympics which begin on February 12.
She'll join the likes of famed German figure skater Katarina Witt and China's first Winter Olympics gold medallist, short track speedskater Yang Yang, in running a leg with the torch.
Camplin, who won gold in Salt Lake City in 2002 before overcoming a major knee injury to snare a bronze four years later in Turin, said she was deeply honoured to be the only Australian athlete chosen.
"I was a bit nervous at first thinking that people from all of the cities would prefer to see locals run with the torch but I have been told people from Dawson City were super excited because the Olympics is all about sport and excellence and they haven't had anyone represent them at the Olympics before," she said.
While up to five Australian athletes would be considered some show of grabbing gold in Vancouver, Camplin said two medals were a reasonable expectation in the sometimes fickle world of wintersports.
"I think the big thing for us is going to be the health of our athletes," she said.
"A lot of them just have to get through to February building up some confidence and experience on the way.
"It's just great though to have so many sports that we are competitive in."
Torah Bright (snowboarding), Jacqui Cooper and Lydia Lassila (aerial skiing), Dale Begg-Smith (moguls) and Tatiana Borodulina (short track speed skating) head the hopes of a contingent that looks to have the most depth of any Australian team at a Winter Olympics.
Camplin said one of the trickiest things was negotiating the World Cup season which precedes the Games, treading the fine line between performing well but not panicking if things don't go all your way in the Games lead-up.
"Don't over-analyse, take it week by week - if you try to analyse every week you can put yourself in a hole pretty quick," offered Camplin, who'll return to Vancouver to commentate on the Games.
"But most of our athletes are pretty seasoned now, particularly the ones that we are really hoping to bring home medals so there's nothing I can really teach them at this stage of the game."
