Lucinda Ruh
Lucinda Ruh was born in Zürich, Switzerland,
but has lived
in many different places, including Paris, Tokyo, Toronto,
San Francisco, and Harbin. She is fluent in four languages:
German, French, Japanese, and English; she also knows some
Russian and Chinese. She started skating at age three and
is
now probably the finest spinner in the world. She also took
classical ballet when she was young; she even received a
scholarship to the Royal Ballet of London at age 7, but
declined
the offer to continue skating.
At age four, Lucinda and her family moved to Japan, where
she
and her sister skated at the Prince Ice Skating Rink in
Tokyo.
Over the next few years, she competed in many competitions
and
even in qualifications for the Japanese National Championships,
although the results didn't count officially because she
was a
foreigner. She became famous in Japan with her Biellmann
spin;
she was the only skater in Japan at that time who could
do it.
She also skated in Swiss competitions during these years,
and
won her first important competition, the Arosa Trophy, when
she was 11.
When
she was 17 years old, Lucinda and her mother moved to Toronto,
Canada to work with Toller Cranston on choreography and Ellen
Burka on jumping technique. After about a year in Canada,
they
moved to San Francisco to work with Christy Ness (Kristi Yamaguchi's
coach). Lucinda made rapid progress and placed 15th at Worlds
that year (1997) in her home country of Switzerland. Unfortunately,
injuries slowed further progress in 1998; these injuries affected
her performances at the Swiss Championships and at Worlds
in Minneapolis,
and she was not selected to compete at the Olympics in Nagano.
In
June 1998, Lucinda went to Harbin, China, to train, and stayed
there until late December 1998, when she returned to Switzerland.
Lucinda says her time in Harbin was her most enriching encounter.
She lived with about 200 other athletes in a compound with
an ice
rink and sports hall. Within 5 months, she was landing all
five
triple jumps (toe loop, salchow, loop, flip, lutz).
In
February 1999, Lucinda returned to Switzerland and started
to work with Oliver Höner. Her excellent performances
at the
1999 World Championships in Helsinki were the highlight of
the
1998/99 season. After Worlds, she was invited to tour with
the German Stars on Ice.
In
November 2000, Lucinda turned professional, and she toured
with Stars on Ice for the 2001/2002 season.
