Mārtiņš Rubenis (born 26 September 1978) is a retired

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

luge A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face up) and feet-first. A luger steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh for s ...

r who competed between 1998 and 2014. He won the bronze medal at the men's singles 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, becoming the first Latvian (i.e. representing Republic of Latvia, as opposed to the Soviet Union) to win a medal at the Winter Olympics and the only one fr He won his second bronze medal at the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

in Sochi in the Team Relay event. In total he competed in five Olympics. Rubenis has also won the gold medal at the 1998 World Junior Championships, as well as the silver and bronze medals at the

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and 2004 World Championships respectively. He also won three medals in the Team Relay event at the FIL European Luge Championships with a golds in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

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, and a bronze in

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. Rubenis retired after the 2014 Winter Olympics. He announced his retirement after the men's event, in which he finished 10th, yet a few days later Rubenis won a bronze medal being a part of the Latvian Relay Team. As a result, he and his team-mates in the relay squad were featured on a commemorative stamp issued by

Latvian Post VAS Latvijas Pasts ( en, Latvian Post) is the main state-owned postal service provider in Latvia headquartered in Riga. It was founded on 2 January 1992, following shortly after the restoration of independence of the country. History Latv ...

. Following his retirement, he was appointed as coach of the Latvian national luge team, and additionally uses his skills as a mechanical engineer to design sleds for the team, having already made his own sleds whilst competing. He also became a member of the

Latvian Olympic Committee The Latvian Olympic Committee ( or LOK) is a non-profit organization that is the National Olympic Committee for Latvia. Its headquarters are in Riga. History The Committee was created on 23 April 1922. In 1923 it received a notice from Inter ...

, having previously served as an athlete representative to the International Luge Federation. Rubenis is a musician and DJ and a member of the DJs group Värka Kru.

Awards

* 2011 – The Three – Star Order * 2014 – The Cross of Recognition

Achievements

* 1998 – 1st place in World Junior championship * 2000 – 11th place in World championship * 2000 – 18th place Overall World Cup * 2001 – 29th place in World championship * 2001 – 25th place Overall World Cup * 2002 – 15th place in European championship * 2002 – 34th place Overall World Cup * 2003 – 2nd place in World championship – team competition * 2003 – 2nd place in World championship * 2003 – 18th place Overall World Cup * 2004 – 3rd place in World championship * 2004 – 13th place Overall World Cup * 2004 – 12th place Overall Challenge Cup * 2005 – 11th place in World championship * 2005 – 11th place Overall World Cup * 2005 – 9th place Overall Challenge Cup * 2006 – 3rd place in European championship – team competition * 2006 – 7th place in European championship

Olympic Games results

* 1998 – Nagano 14th place * 2002 – Salt Lake City after crash – DNF * 2006 – Torino 3rd place * 2010 – Vancouver 11th place * 2014 –

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

10th place * 2014 –

3rd place Team Relay

References

*
FIL-Luge profile
* * * *

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rubenis, Martins 1978 births Living people Latvian male lugers Olympic lugers of Latvia Olympic medalists in luge Olympic bronze medalists for Latvia Lugers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Riga Recipients of the Cross of Recognition Latvian sports coaches Mechanical engineers Falun Gong practitioners