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 ...

– 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 th ...

in Nagano,"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 internationa ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

."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, and 67 wins and 122 podiums at the

FIS Snowboard World Cup The FIS Snowboard World Cup is an annual snowboarding competition, arranged by the International Ski Federation (FIS) since 1994. Since its inauguration, different disciplines have been added and removed, along with categories used to group them. ...

, 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 "
''

'', May 30, 2009. Accessed June 24, 2009. Ruby won the giant slalom event in the snowboarding competition at the

held in Nagano,

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 n ...

, 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 capit ...

in the parallel giant slalom in snowboarding competition at the

, an event that the two French snowboarders had dedicated to the memory of teammate Régine Cavagnoud, who had died in a 2001 training accident. Ruby came in third place to win a bronze medal in snowboardcross 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 by ...

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 Moun ...

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 ...

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 ...

, 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 indep ...

. Having climbed the

Tour Ronde The Tour Ronde () is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif of the Alps, situated on the border between France and Italy. It is a prominent mountain, some 3.5 km north-east of Mont Blanc, but is effectively part of a continuation of the south ...

, 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'' ( ...

'' * {{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