Lara Victoria van Ruijven (; 28 December 1992 10 July 2020) was a Dutch

short track speed skater Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice skating, ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the s ...

. At the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...

, she was part of the Dutch 3000 metres relay team that won a bronze medal. She won gold at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

one year later. By doing so, she became the first Dutch woman to win a world short track title at an individual event.

Early life

Lara Victoria van Ruijven was born in

Naaldwijk Naaldwijk () is a town in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Westland, and lies about 10 km (6 miles) southwest of The Hague. Naaldwijk lies in the heart of Westland. The largest economic sector is g ...

(near

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

) on December 28 1992. She began racing short track when she was six, and her childhood idol was

Evgenia Radanova Evgenia Radanova (; born 4 November 1977) is a Bulgarian female short track speed skater and racing cyclist who has participated in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. She was the world record holder in the 500 m short track distance with 43.671 ...

. She studied law at the

Open University of the Netherlands The Open University of the Netherlands () is a Dutch institution for distance learning at university level. It is an independent government-funded university and uses a variety of methods, including written materials, the Internet, and occasi ...

and resided in

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...

. In addition to her native Dutch, she also spoke English and French.

Career

Van Ruijven first competed as a member of the Dutch Olympic team at the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

. In the

500 metres The 500 metres is an uncommon middle-distance running event in track and field and road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track a ...

she was third in her heat, failing to advance, and placing 17th overall. As a member of the Dutch 3000 metre relay team, she was disqualified in the heats, again not advancing. Throughout that year, she had problems with her knee that compelled her to change her training routine. Three years later, in September 2017, she

dislocated A joint dislocation, also called luxation, occurs when there is an abnormal separation in the joint, where two or more bones meet. A partial dislocation is referred to as a subluxation. Dislocations are commonly caused by sudden trauma to th ...

her shoulder. She breakthrough year came in 2018, when she earned her first Olympic medal at that year's

Winter Games ''Winter Games'' is a sports video game developed by Epyx (and released in Europe by U.S. Gold), based on sports featured in the Winter Olympic Games. A snow-and-ice themed follow-up to the highly successful '' Summer Games'', ''Winter Games'' ...

, as part of the Dutch team that finished third in the 3000 metre relay. Several weeks later, she secured her first medal at the

, when her team finished runner-up in the 3000 metre relay. At the 2019 World Championships, Van Ruijven won a gold medal in the event and was in the lead for almost the entirety of the race. However, the Dutch team were unable to improve on their result in the 3000 metre relay from the previous year and dropped to fourth place. By securing gold, she became the first Dutch woman to win a world short track title at an individual event. Van Ruijven finished fourth overall in terms of total points won at the championships.

Illness and death

Van Ruijven was hospitalized on 25 June 2020, after falling ill during a stay at a training camp near

Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via (; ), or simply Odeillo, is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales and Cerdagne near the Spanish border in the south of France. It comprises the villages of Odeillo and Via, as well as Font-Romeu, one of the oldest ski reso ...

. Four days later, she was transferred to an

intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensive care medicine. An inten ...

due to an

autoimmune disease An autoimmune disease is a condition that results from an anomalous response of the adaptive immune system, wherein it mistakenly targets and attacks healthy, functioning parts of the body as if they were foreign organisms. It is estimated tha ...

. She was subsequently placed in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

and underwent multiple surgeries, but her condition did not improve. She died on 10 July 2020 at a hospital in

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...

, France; she was 27 years old.

Achievements

World Cup victories

Source:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruijven, Lara van 1992 births 2020 deaths Deaths from autoimmune disease Dutch female short-track speed skaters Olympic short-track speed skaters for the Netherlands Olympic bronze medalists for the Netherlands Olympic medalists in short-track speed skating Short-track speed skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Short-track speed skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Speed skaters from The Hague World Short Track Speed Skating Championships medalists 21st-century Dutch sportswomen