Evgeny Plushenko on Monday dampened expectations for gold at his home Olympics in 2014, saying he would consider merely participating in Sochi a big success.
The 2006 Turin gold medalist scored an emphatic victory in the European championships in Sheffield last month, part of a comeback to the sport aimed at climaxing at the Sochi Olympics.
"For me it will be a triumph just to take part in my fourth Olympics," Plushenko said in televised comments.
"To stand on the podium ... that would be just fantastic. I would like a podium finish, but I'm not talking about the gold, because it's going to be hard. The young guys are growing up, but we'll fight in any event."
Plushenko skated through the pain of a knee injury in Sheffield and is scheduled to have an operation in Germany on February 23, ruling him out of the world championships in Nice, France, starting March 26.
Plushenko, who will be 32 when Sochi comes around, was a silver medalist at the 2002 Salt Lake City and 2010 Vancouver Games.
