Background
Ruh was born in Zurich, Switzerland but her family moved to Paris, France not long after.
Ruh was born in Zurich, Switzerland but her family moved to Paris, France not long after.
She was initially more focused on ballet and at age seven received a scholarship to the Royal Ballet of London but a year later, chose to focus on skating.
On 3 April 2003 she set a world record for the most continuous spins (115) on one foot at Chelsea Piers Sky Rink in New York City, United States. She nearly doubled the previous record of Neil Wilson of Britain (60 revolutions). When she was four, her family relocated to Tokyo, Japan where she began skating shortly thereafter.
She also practiced the piano and cello.
Ruh lives in Greenwich, Connecticut. In May 2012, she gave birth to twin girls, Angelica and Angelina.
In 1986, Ruh began working with coach Nobuo Sato. Although she initially enjoyed jumps, Ruh"s interest in them waned as she grew to 5"9" (17526 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 tendinitis, 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.
lieutenant was the first time she had resided in her birth country.
In the summer of 1999, she went to the United States. and was briefly coached by Galina Zmievskaya but tore knee ligaments and returned to Switzerland for treatment. Her last International Skating Union 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 Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Resource Foundation for Children.
Ruh is author of Frozen Teardrop, a memoir published by SelectBooks on November 2011.