Career
In 1986, Ruh began working with coach Nobuo Sato. She won the bronze medal at the Japanese Junior Figure Skating Championships in 1994. Although she initially enjoyed jumps, Ruh's interest in them waned as she grew to 5'9" (175.26 cm), "Since the center of gravity was higher, combined with the rigid training while growing, I never really had a chance to get my timing and balance back. As a result, injuries from bad falls plagued me even more and I started not liking jumps."
In 1996 she moved to Toronto, Canada to work with Toller Cranston. In 1997, she worked with Christy Ness in San Francisco, California but developed two Achilles tendonitis, a ruptured shoulder and Sciatica. In 1998 she moved to Harbin, China to train with Chen Lu's former coach, Hongyun Liu, but although her jumping improved, the Chinese federation objected to a non-national being trained by him. In December, she moved to Switzerland where she met coach Oliver Höner; it was the first time she had resided in her birth country.
In the summer of 1999, she went to the U.S. and was briefly coached by Galina Zmievskaya but tore knee ligaments and returned to Switzerland for treatment. Her last ISU event was the 1999 Cup of Russia. She sustained an injury after falling on a jump during practice the day before the competition but took three Cortisone injections a day and finished 6th at the event. She later learned she had fractured her spine, resulting in two dislocated discs. Her spinning may also have resulted in subtle concussions. A study is underway to determine whether intensive training of spins may cause concussions.
She cites the pair Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov as the skaters she admired the most while growing up.
Following her retirement, Ruh began working as a coach and a spinning coach specialist. Ruh participated in the 2010 and 2011 iterations of "One Step Closer", a figure skating exhibition to benefit the AIDS Resource Foundation for Children.
Lucinda is author of Frozen Teardrop, a memoir published by SelectBooks on November 2011.
Read more about this topic: Lucinda Ruh
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