Ski jumper Morgenstern on course for Sochi after fall
VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian three-time Olympic ski jump champion Thomas Morgenstern hopes to take part in next month's Games in Sochi despite a nasty fall two weeks ago, he said on Thursday.
"I want to go there. I want to be fit by then," Morgenstern told a news conference in Klagenfurt. "It's not about gold, silver or bronze - for me, it's simply about the fact that it's something special."
Morgenstern was injured during a training accident at Bad Mitterndof, Austria, on January 10 after he lost his balance in the air, turned over and landed on his back and head.
"I watched the fall once. That was enough," he said. "It's about knowing what happened, why it happened and minimising the fear through various techniques."
Morgenstern, who won two Olympic titles in the individual and team large hill event in Turin in 2006 and a team large hill gold in Vancouver in 2010, left hospital for a rehabilitation clinic last week and has begun light training.
The Austrian team will be selected next week.
"Of course I had thoughts of ending my career... but I don't want to end my career with a fall," he said.
(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan and Angelika Gruber; editing by Justin Palmer)
