Plushenko undergoes successful operation

Doctors have successfully performed back surgery on figure skater Evgeny Plushenko after he withdrew from the Sochi Winter Games with a spinal injury, the chief of the Tel Aviv clinic Igor Pyatigorsky said Monday, according to R-Sport.

Plushenko won his second career Olympic gold medal with Russia in the inaugural team event last month, but then dramatically withdrew from the individual competition after aggravating an old problem minutes before he was due to skate.

According to state-owned Channel One television, a screw in Plushenko's back that supported an artificial intervertebral disc broke following an attempted triple axel jump in the warm-up.

"The operation that lasted three and a half hours has finished, everything is great," Pyatigorsky said. "He feels great. I think tomorrow he'll stand up and walk, as is the case usually. I've already talked to him."