Ivo Rüegg (born 15 April 1971) is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

bobsled Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Fede ...

der who competed between 1996 and 2010. He won five medals at the

FIBT World Championships The IBSF World Championships (known as the FIBT World Championships until 2015), part of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, have taken place on an annual basis since 1930. Starting with 2002, championships of non- Winter Olympic ...

with two golds (Two-man:

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, Four-man:

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), two silvers Two-man: 2007, Mixed team: 2009), and a bronze (Mixed team: 2007). Rüegg grew up in

Tuggen Tuggen is a municipality in March District in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. History According to Walafrid Strabo the Irish missionaries Columban and Gall arrived at Tuggen around the year 610. They intended to settle in the area, but fled ...

and took part in several different sports in his youth, including skiing, gymnastics, athletics, football and ice hockey. He acted as a forerunner for the prestigious

Lauberhorn The Lauberhorn is a mountain in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland, located between Wengen and Grindelwald, north of the Kleine Scheidegg. Its summit is at an elevation of above sea level. Lauberhorn ski races The mountain is best known for ...

downhill race in

Wengen Wengen () is a mountain village in the Bernese Oberland of central Switzerland. Located in the canton of Bern at an elevation of above sea level, it is part of the Jungfrauregion and has approximately 1,300 year-round residents, which swells ...

, and also competed in Europa Cup and FIS Tour alpine skiing events before leaving the sport in the early 1990s due to back problems. In addition he competed in

steinstossen Steinstossen is the Swiss variant of stone put, a competition in throwing a heavy stone. Practiced among the alpine population since prehistoric times, it is recorded to have taken place in Basel in the 13th century. During the 15th century, it i ...

(stone-throwing) competitions (winning multiple national individual and team titles) and decathlon during the 1990s, breaking the decathlon points record for the canton of

Schwyz The town of Schwyz (; french: Schwytz; it, Svitto) is the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The Federal Charter of 1291 or ''Bundesbrief'', the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the ...

in 1994 and 1996 and setting a personal best of 7,071 points. He first tried bobsleigh as a push athlete in 1992, before starting as a driver in 1996 and taking the Swiss junior title the same year and taking two bronze medals at the 1997 Junior World Championship. In his subsequent career he won one bronze and five silver medals in the

Bobsleigh European Championship The European Bobsleigh and Skeleton Championships is the main bobsleigh and skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable o ...

, one World Cup race (a two-man event at

Cesana Pariol Cesana Pariol was the venue for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The track, built for the games, is located in Cesana. The venue holds approximately 7,130 spectators, of whom 3,624 are seated. Cons ...

) and four Swiss national titles (two in each of the two-man and four man disciplines). Rüegg competed in two

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 ...

, earning his best finish of fourth in the two-man event at

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

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. He won the

Bobsleigh World Cup The Bobsleigh World Cup is an annual bobsleigh competitions. It has taken place since the 1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games ( Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: ''XIV. Zimske olimpijske ...

championship in the two-man event in 2009-10. In May 2010 he announced his retirement from top-level sporting competition. Ivo is the nephew of

Tony Rüegg Tony Rüegg is a Swiss bobsledder who competed in the early 1980s. He won two bronze medals in the four-man event at the FIBT World Championships, earning them in 1981 and 1982. He is the brother of Max Ruegg, the father of Ralph Rüegg R ...

and

Max Rüegg Max Rüegg is a Swiss bobsledder who competed in the early 1980s. He won four medals at the FIBT World Championships with a gold (Two-man: 1982, a silver (Two-man: 1983) and two bronzes (Four-man: 1981, 1982). He is the brother of Tony R ...

, the cousin of

Ralph Rüegg Ralph Rüegg (born 23 May 1973) is a Swiss bobsledder who competed from 1998 to 2006. He is best known for his third-place finish in the four-man event of the Bobsleigh World Cup championship in 2002-3. Rüegg's best finish in the FIBT World Cham ...

, and the brother of Reto Rüegg, all of whom were also bobsledders.

References

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Bobsleigh two-man world championship medalists since 1931

1971 births Living people Sportspeople from the canton of St. Gallen Swiss male bobsledders Olympic bobsledders for Switzerland Bobsledders at the 2006 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 2010 Winter Olympics 21st-century Swiss people {{Switzerland-bobsleigh-bio-stub