Richio Ruiten amongst top five of Dutch ski talents.

WERNHOUT – He is totally obsessed by it. At least up until now and he thinks it will stay that way. I am talking about ten years old Richio Ruiten who has only one dream and that is to represent the Netherlands in a couple of years at the Olympic Games on the Giant slalom. In his category he is amongst the five best skiing talents of Holland.

By Charles Luijten

Already he has reached the top five best skiing talents amongst the aspirants of the Dutch Skiing Association.

He confirmed this in Schladming, Austria, where the Dutch Ski-championships took place last month on which occasion he participated in the Giant Slalom and the Slalom. In the first discipline the ski-talent from Wernhout gained a fourth place and in the last he became third. Satisfied would you think..?

Not really, because Richio Ruiten, who lives in Patersven near Wernhout, wants to be the best at any cost. He clearly states this in an interview during which he is less speedy then on the snow tracks. Richio Ruiten is not much of a talker, but all the more a sportsman.

For that he is already making sacrifices, for example in relation to the food he uses. He aims at a perfect body weight.

Obsessed

Richio Ruiten, who attends the seventh grade at his school in Wuustwezel, Belgium, is crazy with skiing. When he was only 2 ½ years old he was already put on the ski’s by his parents who are as obsessed with this sport as Richio is. Three times a year they travel to the snow covered mountain slopes of Gerlos in Austria. Of course their son and only child, Richio, does not stay behind. He is the first to be in the car, ready for the long journey, as soon as it is loaded for a trip to the snow.

Dreams

During the sports program on the recent Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver he was glued to the screen. “That’s where I want to go too”, he says. His heartfelt wish is, one day, to participate for the Netherlands during the Olympic Games. Then he will show, just like Bode Miller did, just how fast he can go down on the giant slalom.

For Richio Ruiten, whos parents are both from Rotterdam and who grew up in Wernhout, the ski tracks are like holy ground. He can sacrifice anything to reach his goal although he realizes that there is still a long way to go. After all he is still only ten years old.

Half past five

His parents back him fully and are a great support to him. If this were not the case Richio would not be where he is today. They are proud of him although it is asking a lot of them. “Financially it is very demanding. Fortunately we have some sponsors who enable for Richio to develop as good as he can.”

And then there is the sheer time that goes with it. “On a yearly basis I travel 35- to 40.000 km with him to let him ski anywhere. Every Saturday morning at half past 5 we drive to Landgraaf, South Limburg, and on top of that we go all through the year to contests in the Netherlands, Austria and even Italy. As parents you have to do a lot. Suppose we had more children, it would have been much harder”, says father Patrick Ruiten. He and his family have lived in Patersven now for 10 years.

Combinations

Four times a week Richio Ruiten goes to the sports-school in Zundert to work on his stamina and also his school cannot be neglected. “Richio can make the combination very easy. We hardly have to pay any attention to it. He has a lot of self discipline, knows how to arrange everything and sticks to that,” his mother adds. As soon as he will join the junior group he will have to start on real distance-skiing. Until then it only counts who sets the best result within a certain time, although the length of the inside rink is of some importance there also.