OSAKA -- Olympic short-track speed skating gold medalist Takafumi Nishitani said Tuesday he has not given up hope of competing in next month's Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, despite breaking his left ankle late last month.
Nishitani, who sustained the injury on the final race of the national sprint championships in Tokyo on Dec. 30, has been making a steady recovery at an Osaka hospital and says he is aiming to compete for a second straight gold in the Olympic men's 500 meters on Feb. 23.
The Osaka native, who turns 23 in nine days time, has two screws and three steel pins inserted in his ankle and is undergoing a daily seven-hour rehabilitation program in a bid to get back on the ice rink for training on Jan. 21.