CHENGDE, Hebei province - After winning two consecutive Olympic silver medals in women's freestyle aerials skiing, Li Nina has accepted the fact that not all great athletes are destined to win Olympic gold.

Li, dubbed "Princess of the Snow" who finished second in women's freestyle aerials skiing at the Winter Games in Turin in 2006 and Vancouver this year, revealed to China Daily that "the Olympic gold is not her goal anymore".

"First, I worry about my nagging back injury, it even hurts when I stand or sit for a long time and there is no radical treatment. And I'm already 27 and I will be 31 by the time of the Sochi Games," Li said during the Olympic Day Run in Chengde, Hebei province, on Saturday.

"The injury and my age keep me at my current level and don't allow me to master more difficult jumps, which is essential to achieve gold at the Olympic Games," Li said.

Since coming back from Vancouver, the three-time world champion has started to acquire a master's degree in sports teaching and training at the Beijing Sports University and has missed this year's national team training camp.

Although she didn't rule out the possibility of returning to the squad some time next season, Li is not banking on attending the 2014 Sochi Winter Games in Russia.

"These days off the course are much more relaxing and I like the feeling of sitting in the classroom and doing whatever I like at leisure time," Li said.

Li was among China's first generation of aerialists to tackle the sport, along with Xu Nannan, who collected China's first Winter Olympic medal in a snow event at the 1998 Nagano Games.

At her first Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002, the then 19-year-old Li finished a surprising fifth and that marked the start of her dominance of the sport.

Having won World Championship titles in 2005, 2007 and 2009, Li was expected to turn her Turin silver medal into gold in Vancouver, however, she was beaten by Australia's Lydia Lassila by seven points.

Li said she would continue to help the Chinese freestyle aerial team in its quest for an Olympic gold medal.

"Even if I return to the national team, I'm just acting as an older sister to encourage the young athletes and share my experience with them.

"China has already got three silver medals (at the event), we don't need one more medal from me. We need a gold."

Source: China Daily