Ron van Bruchem (born 20 April 1967) is a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

speedcuber Speedcubing (also known as speedsolving, or cubing) is a competitive sport involving solving a variety of combination puzzles, the most famous being the 3x3x3 puzzle or Rubik's Cube, as quickly as possible. An individual who practices solving tw ...

living in

Almere Almere () is a planned city and municipality in the province of Flevoland, Netherlands, located about 20 km to the east of Amsterdam (as the crow flies) across the IJmeer. Bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde, the municipality of Almere comprise ...

. He helped create the current resurge of Rubik's Cube enthusiasm by founding the international speedcubing community and organizing international competitions. He is also a founder, delegate and former chairman of the

World Cube Association The World Cube Association (WCA) is the worldwide non-profit organization that regulates and holds competitions for mechanical puzzles that are operated by twisting groups of pieces, commonly known as '' twisty puzzles'' (a subcategory of combin ...

, an organization aiming at the spread of speedcubing as a regulated sport. He is also the host of the website speedcubing.com. In 1999 the first modern age speedcubers found each other on internet via Rubik's Games, a computer game with an electronic version of Rubik's Cube.

Chris Hardwick Christopher Ryan Hardwick (born November 23, 1971) is an American comedian, actor, television and podcast host, writer, and producer. He hosts ''Talking Dead'', an hourlong aftershow on AMC affiliated with the network's zombie drama series '' The ...

from Raleigh, NC founded a Yahoo Group Speedsolvingrubikscube and the Unofficial World Records, a place where cubers could post their personal records. Ron van Bruchem started speedcubing.com together with his friend Ton Dennenbroek, an avid puzzle collector. Because the first cubers were living all over the world they wanted to organize a competition where they could all meet. After failing in 2001, under guidance of Dan Gosbee they finally succeeded to organize World Championship 2003 in Toronto. This first modern age Rubik's Cube competition was a huge success, but there were many issues because of insufficient regulation. After WC 2003 Ron van Bruchem and

Tyson Mao Tyson Mao (born May 8, 1984, in San Francisco, California) is an American Rubik's Cube speedsolver. He is a co-founder and a former board member of the World Cube Association, an organization that holds competitive events for the Rubik's Cube. ...

started organizing competitions in The Netherlands/Germany and at Caltech in USA. In 2004 they started the

which nowadays organizes competitions in over 90 countries.

World records

Ron van Bruchem has held official world records for solving the Rubik's Cube (9.55 seconds) set at the Dutch Nationals 2007 (lost 2008), the 5x5x5 cube in 2006 (1:47.22 min) set at Belgian Open 2006 (lost 2006), and 2x2x2 cube (2.65 seconds) set at UK Open 2007 (lost 2008).

Personal life

Ron van Bruchem was born in Hilversum, The Netherlands. He was partially raised in a facility for children of Salvation Army. After his studies he has been working for

Rabobank Rabobank (; full name: ''Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A.'') is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Utrecht, Netherlands. The group comprises 89 local Dutch Rabobanks (2019), a central organisation (Raboban ...

for over 25 years now. Ron has a daughter Julia (December 1997).

External links

Ron van Bruchem's listing
on http://www.worldcubeassociation.org 1967 births Living people Dutch speedcubers Sportspeople from Amstelveen {{netherlands-sport-bio-stub