After missing out in Beijing, moguls veteran Matt Graham's parents jumped at the chance to watch their son march in the Winter Olympics opening ceremony and immediately booked their tickets.
But in an Olympics first, the opening ceremony will be held concurrently at four different locations - Milan, Livigno, Predazzo and Cortina.
So while flag bearer Graham is proudly leading the Australian team into Livigno's Snow Park, his parents will be at the main venue at Milan's San Siro Olympic stadium some 250km away.
Graham, who won silver in PyeongChang in 2018, was named alongside defending Olympic champion Jakara Anthony as Australia's joint flag bearers, awarded the honour in his fourth and likely final Games.
After all international fans and family members were excluded from Beijing due to COVID-19 restrictions, Steve and Debbie were quick to lock in for Italy.
With the flag bearer announcement only made two days out from the opening ceremony, Graham said it was too late for them to change their plans.
"I think they'll watch the opening ceremony in Milan," Graham said from Livigno.
"When the schedule came out and I told my mum and dad that you know I'm going to be able to march they were like 'Awesome we're going to buy tickets' so they they sort of rushed and bought the tickets and booked the accommodation as quickly as they could.
"In some ways it's a little bit frustrating but I know they're going to be there in spirit and they're going to see a great show down there in Milan."
Graham's wife Jess and baby daughter Ada are also flying from Sydney but also won't arrive in time to watch him march.
It's not the first time the Grahams have had their travel plans disrupted.
They booked to fly to Deer Valley in Utah to watch Graham compete in the final World Cup event before the Olympics only for the lack of snow forcing the event to be relocated at the last minute. It was held in Waterville Valley in New Hampshire, the other side of the United States.
