Rich Ruohonen has etched his name in the Olympic record books.
The 54-year-old personal injury lawyer from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, became the oldest U.S. Winter Olympian of all time when he threw his first stone in Team USA’s men’s curling game against Switzerland on Thursday. The U.S. went on to concede against Switzerland after trailing 8-3 through eight ends.
Ruohonen was the alternate for Team USA, which features skip Daniel Casper, Luc Violette, Ben Richardson and Aidan Oldenburg. He did not get into the team’s opening round-robin game against Czechia on Wednesday, but he was inserted late in the team second game against Switzerland.
At 54, Ruohonen breaks a mark previously held by Joseph Savage, who was 52 when he competed in pairs’ figure skating at the 1932 Lake Placid Games.
Ruohonen started curling competitively in his late teens and has been through 20 years’ worth of Olympic trials. He was in the mix at five straight Olympic trials from 2006 to 2022 — finishing as high as a runner-up in 2018 — but teams led by John Shuster won each of those tournaments.
After briefly stepping away from the sport following the 2022 Olympic cycle, he played the 2023-24 season on a team with NFL Hall of Famer Jared Allen. He joined Team Casper as a sub last year while Casper was sidelined with Guillain-Barré Syndrome. He ultimately stayed once Casper returned.
Team Casper will be back in action on Friday with a match against Canada at 3:05 a.m. ET/12:05 a.m. PT.
Great Job Max Molski & the Team @ NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth for sharing this story.
