Figure skater Plushenko eyes comeback at 2018 Olympics

Five days after announcing his retirement from figure skating, two-time Olympic champion Evgeny Plushenko said Tuesday he may have a crack at the next Winter Games in Pyeongchang, when he would be 35 years of age, R-Sport reported.

Plushenko made the statement after dramatically pulling out from the men's singles event at his home Olympics in Sochi because of a back injury. The injury, he said, came despite multiple back operations over the last few years and was exacerbated by the preceding team event, where he helped his country to the gold medal, his fourth medal in four Olympics.

"Here's what I want to do," Plushenko said on a chat show on Russia's biggest TV network, Channel One. "Recover completely, and if necessary do another 10 operations," he said.

"I'll skip a couple of seasons, I'll learn another couple quads and come back to competition," he said in reference to the four-spin element that's required to compete with the top skaters.

"That is to say, not return, but stay (in sport). I don't exclude the possibility that I want to remain in sport, to prove it to many people and to myself. I don't rule out that there will be a fifth Olympics," he added.

"I don't want to retire from sport, maybe I'll still skate," he said.

Plushenko won the silver medal behind Evan Lycasek in Vancouver four years ago and the gold at Turin 2006. After he pulled out of Sochi, the individual gold was won by Japanese star Yuzuru Hanyu.