Torino figure skating champ Yevgeny Plushenko underwent back surgery Thursday in Tel Aviv, and actually had a deteriorated spinal disc removed and replaced with a synthetic one.
“The doctor who performed the operation said it was a success,” Plushenko’s coach Alexei Mishin told Reuters. “It’s too early to make any prognosis about his return to the ice… Looking back we all say he should have done something else but it’s too late now. The disc was in such a bad condition.”
Plushenko, 30, effectively retired after winning his third Olympic medal in 2010, but returned to win his tenth national championship last month despite being sidelined for a year with a knee surgery and back issues. Now he hopes this surgery will help him make one final push toward winning a fourth career medal at his country’s first Winter Olympics.
“He should get a new lease of life and hopefully will come back stronger than he was last year,” Mishin added. “I know he has his mind set on competing at the Sochi Olympics and I’m sure he’ll do whatever it takes to be there in good shape and in good health.”