Karine Ruby (4 January 1978 in
Bonneville, Haute-Savoie
Bonneville (; ) is a subprefecture of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. In 2018, the commune had a population of 12,557.
Geography
Bonneville is on the A40 autoroute, roughly halfway between Ge ...
– 29 May 2009) was a French
snowboarder
Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympic ...
and Olympic champion. She won two medals at the
Winter Olympics
The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...
, with a gold medal at the
1998 Winter Olympics
The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...
in
Nagano Nagano may refer to:
Places
* Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan
** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture
*** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics
*** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano
*** Nagano Universi ...
,
["1998 Winter Olympics – Nagano, Japan – Alpine Skiing"]
– ''databaseOlympics.com'' (Retrieved on 5 March 2008) and a silver medal at the
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...
in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
.
["2002 Winter Olympics – Salt Lake City, United States – Alpine Skiing"]
– ''databaseOlympics.com'' (Retrieved on 5 March 2008) She also earned six gold medals and four silver medals at the
FIS Snowboard World Championships
The FIS Snowboarding World Championships is the world championship organized by the FIS for Snowboarding. It was first held in 1996 and is now held every odd year. The championship events include Big air, Half-pipe, Parallel giant slalom, Parallel ...
, and 67 wins and 122 podiums at the
FIS Snowboard World Cup, which earned her the description by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' as "the most decorated female snowboarder in the world".
[Robinson, Joshua]
"Karine Ruby, French Snowboarding Star, Dies at 31 "
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', May 30, 2009. Accessed June 24, 2009.
Ruby won the giant slalom event in the
snowboarding competition at the
1998 Winter Olympics
The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...
held in
Nagano Nagano may refer to:
Places
* Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan
** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture
*** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics
*** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano
*** Nagano Universi ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, overcoming severe weather conditions to win the first Olympic gold medal awarded in the event to a woman. She finished a combined 1.74 seconds behind
Isabelle Blanc
Isabelle Blanc (born 25 July 1975) is a French snowboarder and Olympic champion. She won a gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capita ...
in the parallel giant slalom in
snowboarding competition at the
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...
in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
, an event that the two French snowboarders had dedicated to the memory of teammate
Régine Cavagnoud
Régine Cavagnoud (27 June 1970 – 31 October 2001) was a World Cup alpine ski racer from France. She was the World Cup and World Champion in Super-G in 2001. Later that year, Cavagnoud was involved in a high-speed collision while training ...
, who had died in a 2001 training accident.
Ruby came in third place to win a bronze medal in
snowboardcross
Snowboard cross, also known as boardercross, is a snowboard competition in which four to six competitors race down a course. Snowboard cross courses are typically quite narrow and include cambered turns, various types of jumps, berms, rollers, ...
at the
Winter X Games IX Winter X Games IX were held from January 29, 2005 to February 1, 2005 in Aspen, Colorado. They were the 4th consecutive Winter X Games to be held in Aspen. Television coverage of Winter X Games XI was broadcast on ESPN and ABC, primarily hosted ...
held in
Aspen, Colorado
Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mounta ...
in January 2005.
She competed in the snowboardcross event at the
2006 Winter Olympics
The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...
in
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, and retired from the sport after being eliminated in the quarterfinals.
[
Ruby was training to become a ]mountain guide
A mountain guide is a specially trained and experienced professional mountaineer who is certified by local authorities or mountain guide associations. They are considered to be high-level experts in mountaineering, and are hired to instruct or ...
, a process that can take as long as 15 years, and was killed at age 31 on 29 May 2009 after a climbing accident in the Mont Blanc massif
The Mont Blanc massif (french: Massif du Mont-Blanc; it, Massiccio del Monte Bianco) is a mountain range in the Alps, located mostly in France and Italy, but also straddling Switzerland at its northeastern end. It contains eleven major indepen ...
. Having climbed the Tour Ronde, she fell into a in the glacier du Geant at around 3,300 m, dragging in two other members of the climbing party she had been leading who had all been roped to each other. One man was killed in the fall, while another sustained serious injuries and was hospitalized after being evacuated by helicopter.
References
External links
AP Obituary
in ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
''
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruby, Karine
1978 births
2009 deaths
People from Bonneville, Haute-Savoie
Mountaineering deaths
French female snowboarders
Olympic gold medalists for France
Olympic silver medalists for France
Olympic snowboarders of France
Snowboarders at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Snowboarders at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Snowboarders at the 2006 Winter Olympics
X Games athletes
Sport deaths in France
Olympic medalists in snowboarding
Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Université Savoie-Mont Blanc alumni
Sportspeople from Haute-Savoie
20th-century French women