Steven Bradbury will forever be remembered for his miracle on ice at the 2002 Winter Olympics, but 20 years later, Bradbury pulled off another spectacular feat when he rescued four teenage girls from drowning in rough Gold Coast surf.

In March last year, the former speed skater took on rough swells at Happy Valley on the Sunshine Coast to help save the lives of four girls, who were struggling in rough seas.

On Wednesday, the 49-year-old was awarded a commendation for brave conduct by Australian Governor General David Hurley.

Bradbury, who had been teaching his son Flyn to surf at the time of the rescue, initially thought there was only one girl in distress.

“I grabbed my son’s board and told him to run to the lifeguards. Once I got out there, I realised there were three more heads a bit further out that were right in the impact zone, getting smashed by 2-metre plus waves,” Bradbury told ABC.

“I got to the first girl. The look on her face stuck in my head for about two months. I’ve never seen a human with so much fear in her eyes before.”

After trying to bring all the girls in at once Bradbury realised the safer option was to bring them in one at a time before lifeguards came in.

“I tried on about six waves to get them all in on the board,” Bradbury recalled.

“But the board was too heavy with three of them on it, plus me at the back trying to kick. I was going to have to ditch them and take one in at a time but the lifeguards showed up quickly after that.

“They plucked two out of the water, I got the third one and paddled her in and the emergency from there was over. But it was about five or six minutes of maximum intensity.”

Bradbury famously won gold in the 1,000 metre event at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City after his opponents were involved in a last-corner pile-up.

He said it was good know he could snap back into what he called “Olympic mode.”

“It was kind of nice to know that under extreme circumstances, that I could still go back into Olympic mode, even though I’m not as fit and a little older than I used to be,” he said.

Despite winning a gold medal he described the feeling of a hug he received from one of the girls as something “he’s never experienced before in my life.”

“I’m not sure exactly how to describe it. You feel a little bit proud, but a little bit, I don’t know, a little bit like you need to take another breath as well.”