OLYMPIC moments usually refer to those times when an athlete secures a medal but for skeleton ace Shelley Rudman hers will be when she takes to the ice in the 2014 Games first run on Thursday.

No gold medals will be handed out but Rudman’s father Jack will be watching and cheering his daughter on for the first time since he suffered a brain haemorrhage at the wheel of his car that left him fighting for his life.

Rudman, girlfriend of Rossendale’s skeleton star Kristan Bromley, only found out about her dad’s accident through a news alert on her phone and contemplated quitting the sport altogether.

But she stuck at it and will travel to Sochi, with Jack and mum Josie, looking to claim her second Olympic medal having won silver in Turin in 2006.

“It will be the first time they would have come out to watch me race since everything happened,” said Rudman.

“It was really quite horrible because I got the news alert that came through before I’d even heard anything that said my dad had been involved in a car crash.

“The network that my mum, my dad and I were all on wasn’t working, so mum couldn’t get hold of me to tell me what had happened. The first thing I knew about it was that message. It said he was in a car accident and been rushed to hospital, so it was obviously a big shock.

“They haven’t been able to come out and watch me all the time, but they always watch it on TV and follow my results online,” Rudman said.

“As parents, I think they’re just really, really proud. I don’t think they ever expected me to get this far.”

Rudman said she would quit the sport and move to her original home of Wiltshire to be closer to Jack but her mum talked her out of any move.

The decision has paid off.

Jack has made a startling recovery and Rudman enters the games looking to bring home a fourth consecutive GB medal in Skeleton.

She will face competition from her team-mate Lizzy Yarnold in what is a strong looking British squad but her form has improved as the season has gone on.

Rudman won World Championship gold in 2013 and after overcoming injury in the early part of this season, has claimed bronze medals at two recent World Cup events ahead of the Games.

And she admits who adapts best to the track could be on the podium.

“It’s a very interesting track and I like it, but there are still a few key corners where I do lose a little time,” she said.

Of the internal competition, with Yarnold which the 32-year-old has come across before when she finished sixth four years ago as fellow Brit Amy Williams claimed gold, Rudman added: “I actually think it’s brilliant because we never used to be very strong in terms of depth in the girls’ squad. People are now saying, ‘Those Brits – they’re really strong.’”