11.12 Olympic Figure Skating Gold Medalist Abandons Sochi Bid

MOSCOW, December 10 (R-Sport) – Injury has forced reigning Olympic men’s figure skating gold medalist, American Evan Lysacek, to abandon his attempt to mount a comeback at February’s Sochi Games, he said Tuesday.

Lysacek, 28, stunned the skating world when he beat Russia’s Evgeni Plushenko to gold in Vancouver in 2010, and has not competed since.

He had planned to return in September at the Skate America Grand Prix event, but a hip injury prevented him from doing so, and US Figure Skating said Tuesday that treatment would take “several” more months.

“Words cannot describe how disappointed I am to not be able to compete in Sochi,” Lysacek said in comments carried by the US Figure Skating website. “The proudest moments of my life have been representing the United States in the last two Winter Olympics.”

“I have suffered numerous injuries over the course of my skating career, and they are some of the hardest things an athlete has to overcome. While none of my past injuries have sidelined me quite like this one, I remain determined to regain my health and skate again.”

Illinois native Lysacek, who also has a world championship and two US titles to his name, sparked controversy with his 2010 Olympic win because he did not perform a quadruple jump, figure skating’s toughest element, unlike the second-place Plushenko.

After Vancouver, Lysacek took a season’s sabbatical but planned to return to competition in fall 2011, a plan that fell apart over an apparent financial dispute between him and US Figure Skating.