Karine Ruby

Karine Ruby was a French snowboarder and Olympic champion who became known as the most decorated female snowboarder in the world. Born in Bonneville, Haute-Savoie in 1978, she won the giant slalom at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, the first Olympic gold medal awarded in that event to a woman, and took silver in the parallel giant slalom at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. She collected six gold and four silver medals at the FIS Snowboard World Championships and 67 World Cup wins with 122 podiums. After a bronze in snowboardcross at the 2005 Winter X Games she competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and retired after the quarterfinals. She was training to become a mountain guide when she died in a climbing accident on the Mont Blanc massif in May 2009, aged 31.