On Thursday, Ruohonen, 54, made history as the oldest American Winter Olympian to touch the ice. The Team USA men’s curling team lost its preliminary match against Switzerland 8-3, but instead of conceding when it was down 8-2, the team subbed in its 54-year-old alternate. The move officially made Ruohonen an Olympian after seven career attempts to make the Winter Olympics.
Ruohonen started curling when he was in the fifth grade and has represented the U.S. in two World Championships (2008, 2018). Since he started four decades ago, he’s only taken one season off – to study law at Hamline Law School while recovering from a serious knee injury.
This isn’t the first time the curler’s name has been in the spotlight during the Winter Games. Ruohonen made headlines on Feb. 10 when he called out the ICE raids in Minnesota. The Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, resident, who was born in St. Paul, shared his thoughts about his home state.
‘I’m proud to be here to represent Team USA and to represent our country. But we’d be remiss if we didn’t at least mention what’s going on in Minnesota and what a tough time it’s been for everybody,’ Ruohonen said. ‘This stuff is happening right, right around where we live.
‘I am a lawyer, as you know, and we have a constitution, and it allows us to (have) freedom of press, freedom of speech, protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures, and makes it that we have to have probable cause to be pulled over. And what’s happening in Minnesota is wrong. There’s no shades of grey. It’s clear.’
