Attorney Rich Ruohonen becomes oldest American Olympian amid a senior wave in Italy
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- At 54, curler Rich Ruohonen became the oldest American Winter Olympian when he competed Thursday, breaking a record set by figure skater Joseph Savage in 1932.
- After nearly 40 years trying to qualify, Ruohonen finally achieved his Olympic dream when he subbed in for Team Casper against Switzerland Thursday.
- His achievement highlights a broader trend in Milan-Cortina, where athletes 40 and older are competing and redefining what’s possible.
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — At 54, Rich Ruohonen thought his Olympic dream had passed him by. Which was a pretty good bet since no American his age had competed in the Winter Games.
Until now.
Because when Ruohonen replaced lead Aidan Oldenburg for the start of the eighth end in the American curling team’s 8-3 loss to Switzerland in round-robin play Thursday, he not only defied the odds, but he also continued a trend that has featured older Olympians competing at a high level in the Milan-Cortina Games.
At least a half-dozen athletes 40 and older came to Italy expecting to compete for medals, and doctors credit advances in sports science, improved recovery techniques, better nutrition and superior mental adaptation for the growing number of athletes going for gold as they get ready to enter their golden years.
One of those, skier Lindsey Vonn, who took to the slopes with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, had her Olympics end early in a spectacular crash while a second, snowboarder Nick Baumgartner, finished seventh in snowboard cross Thursday, losing his semifinal by less than a foot to Austria’s Alessandro Haemmerle, who went on to repeat as the Olympic champion.
Korey Dropkin is grateful for his Olympic moment as the U.S. curling team looks to capitalize on a mix of youth and experience to challenge for gold in Italy.
Just making it to the starting line would have been unthinkable even a few years ago.
“As I get older and claim that I’m going to go to another Olympics, so many people step up and say, ‘There’s no way,’” said Baumgartner, who was competing in his fifth Winter Games. “That just adds fuel to the fire. I love it.
“When I come here to the Olympics at 44, no one expects me to win or do that well, so it takes the pressure away and I just go out there and I do everything I can. When you find something you really love, it’s so much fun to push your body to see what you’re capable of.”
Elana Meyers Taylor, 41, another five-time Olympian, and U.S. teammate Kaillie Humphries, 40, will take part in women’s bobsled, which starts next week. Both will have children looking on when they do so.
Former U.S. skier Sarah Schleper, now 46 and competing for Mexico, didn’t just have a child watching when she finished 26th in the women’s super-G in her seventh Olympic appearance Thursday. Her son Lasse Gaxiola, 18, also will ski here, in the men’s giant slalom, making them the first mother and son to compete in the same Winter Games.
And Schleper may not be done. Although she’s already the oldest female skier in Olympic history, she says she hasn’t ruled out a return for the next Winter Games in 2030.
“I think my body could manage it, especially the super-G. Because the super-G is actually, besides the fear factor, one of the easier events for me,” she said. “But the more important thing is to let the younger Mexicans have a shot.
“So if there’s anyone qualified that’s younger than me, even if I ski faster than them, I’m letting them go.”
Then there’s Deanna Stellato-Dudek, 42, who formerly competed for the U.S., then retired for 16 years. She’s back skating for Canada; she and partner Maxime Deschamps are among the favorites for gold in pairs, which begins Sunday.
Ruohonen, meanwhile, is not only the oldest American Winter Olympian, but he also may be the most patient as well. After missing out — again — on a trip to the Olympics four years ago, he retired from elite competition and focused on his career as a personal injury attorney. But when Danny Casper fell ill with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a rare condition in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks its nerves, he asked Ruohonen to temporarily take his place on the team.
Ruohonen’s play and leadership made him so valuable on a team whose players mostly were less than half his age, he was asked to stay on as an alternate even after Casper returned. That also earned him a trip to Cortina when Team Casper upset Ruohonen’s old team, led by former Olympic champion John Shuster, during the U.S. trials.
But while that got Ruohonen to Italy, he wouldn’t officially be an Olympian unless he took the ice, something alternates don’t always do.
But with the U.S. well behind after seven ends of its 10-end game with Switzerland, Ruohonen, who first tried to get to the Olympics when curling was a trial sport in 1988, finally saw his decades of persistence rewarded when he was subbed in.
“I would have rather done it when we were up 8-2 instead of down 8-2, but I really appreciate the guys giving me a chance,” he said. “I knew they would at some point, and it was great. It was an awesome moment for me, even in a loss.
“I can’t believe it, the dream came true. My family was there and they were screaming and yelling.”
Consider it a moment for the aged.
With three world champions entering the Olympics, the United States figure skating team could have its best medal haul in decades at the Milan-Cortina Games.
