CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Rich Ruohonen is a personal injury lawyer at TSR Injury Law in Bloomington, Minnesota. He is also making his Olympic debut this week as the oldest athlete to ever represent the United States in a Winter Games at 54 years old.
Ruohonen started curling on Saturday mornings at the St. Paul Curling Club in the fifth grade and has represented the U.S. in two world championships (2008, 2018). Since he got into the sport four decades ago, he’s only taken one season off – to study law at Hamline Law School, while recovering from a serious knee injury.
So when the moderator at USA Curling press conference Tuesday, Feb. 10 asked if any athletes wanted to say anything else before they bid media arrivederci, Ruohonen used his status as an attorney and an Olympian to speak on a topic he and his teammates are passionate about: Minnesota.
‘I’m proud to be here to represent Team USA, and to represent our country. But we’d be remiss if we didn’t at least mention what’s going on in Minnesota and what a tough time it’s been for everybody. This stuff is happening right, right around where we live,’ Ruohonen said.
Six of the 11 athletes in Cortina for USA Curling hail from Minnesota. Ruohonen is from Brooklyn Park, which is about 18 minutes north of Minneapolis, where ICE agents have shot and killed two civilians: Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Aileen Geving and Cory Thiesse are from Duluth, a little over two hours from Minneapolis. Aidan Oldenburg is from Mapleton, about an hour and 45 minutes away. Sisters Tara Peterson and Tabitha Peterson Lovick are from Eagan, 25 minutes out.
‘I am a lawyer, as you know, and we have a constitution,’ Ruohonen continued, ‘and it allows us to (have) freedom of press, freedom of speech, protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures, and makes it that we have to have probable cause to be pulled over. And what’s happening in Minnesota is wrong. There’s no shades of grey. It’s clear.’
Ruohonen is a sixth-time ‘Minnesota Lawyer’ Attorney of the Year winner, whose trial success rate exceeds 80%. He said Tuesday that he’s currently on a streak of 27 consecutive trial victories.
The curling elder statesman finished his statement by praising the citizens of Minnesota, who have not let threats and acts of violence from federal agents deter them from protesting and protecting to those in danger. Minneapolis restaurant owner Tracy Wong sheltered fleeing protestors in her Vietnamese establishment My Huong Kitchen. Thousands showed out in sub-zero temperatures last month to rally against ICE’s occupation of their city. Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison has filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security on behalf of the state, Minneapolis and Saint Paul, urging the court to end the surge of DHS agents and to declare it unlawful and unconstitutional.
‘I really love what’s been happening there now with people coming out, showing the love, the compassion, integrity and respect for others that they don’t know, and helping them out,’ Ruohonen said. ‘And we love Minnesota for that.
‘And I want to make it clear that we are out here, we love our country. We’re playing for the U.S. We’re playing for Team USA. And we’re playing for each other, and we’re playing for our family and our friends that sacrificed so much to be here today. And that doesn’t change anything.
‘Because what the Olympics means is excellence, respect, friendship, and we all, I think, exemplify that. And we are playing for the people of Minnesota and the people around the country who share those same values. That compassion, that love and that respect.’
Reach USA TODAY Network sports reporter Payton Titus at ptitus@gannett.com, and follow her on X @petitus25.