Israeli doctors have removed four screws from the back of Russian figure skating star Yevgeny Plushenko in a ­mammoth operation and ­expect him to make a full ­recovery, Russian state television said Wednesday.

Plushenko pulled out of the individual competition at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games after injuring his fragile back in practice.

He had already won gold in the team competition and many questioned why he was skating in the individual.

After a controversy that overshadowed the men's skating ­finals at the Games, Plushenko, 31, went to an Israeli clinic in Tel Aviv, Israel for a new operation on his back.

Never shy of ­publicity, Plushenko allowed Russia's Channel One television to film the ­operation, which took place earlier this week, and his first nervous steps around the hospital ward.

The television report said the ­doctors had intended to replace a broken screw in his back that supports an artificial disc in Plushenko's vertebrae. But seeing that the bone was now supporting the disc well, they decided to remove all four screws from his back.

Plushenko, who announced his retirement in Sochi, said he did not rule out now returning to skating.

"I am going to stop worrying that something will break," he said dressed in a hospital smock.

"Maybe I will continue sport. I'm joking, for the moment."

With the characteristic ­bravado that makes him a love-hate figure, Plushenko said, "You need to sacrifice something for a medal. And I sacrificed my health. Someone will say I am a fool, someone else a hero.

"But I am as I am, I love sport and I love risk."

The Russian-speaking ­Israeli doctors treating Plushenko said that the operation had gone so well he could be back to full form within months.

"If you look half a year ahead then I would not prescribe any restrictions. I think he will be able to skate," said doctor Ilya Pekarsky.

AFP - Global Times