Lara van Ruijven became a sports heroine in the Netherlands, but then she received a tragic diagnosis. Any help came too late.
It ended where it had all begun. Two final laps on the De Uithof ice rink. The rink where she had taken the first steps in her later great career.
In a white car with Dutch flags and a large bouquet of flowers on the hood, Lara van Ruijven’s coffin was driven over the ice. Teammates, friends and fans lined the route, applauding and paying their last respects.
She had previously been in a coma for two weeks, fighting for her life – ultimately in vain. Today, five years ago, the short track world champion tragically died of an autoimmune reaction. She was only 27 years old.
Van Ruijven suffered internal bleeding
Just one year earlier, she had made history by becoming the first Dutch woman to win a gold medal at a Short Track World Championship. Then the new season was approaching, and Van Ruijven had big goals.
She was with the national team at a training camp in the Pyrenean town of Font-Romeu when she suddenly experienced health problems at the end of June and had to be taken to the hospital.
There, the serious autoimmune reaction was subsequently diagnosed. Complications such as internal bleeding occurred. Van Ruijven’s condition then rapidly deteriorated.
Great wave of dismay after death
Two operations were then supposed to lead to improvement, but only further complications occurred, which is why she was placed in an artificial coma and died of the disease a short time later.
Her death triggered a wave of dismay. “We have been through so much with Lara, her family and the short track team. It is incomprehensible that she is suddenly taken from us in the prime of her life,” wrote the Dutch association.
Short track national coach Jeroen Otter said in the association’s statement: “What terrible news we have received. It is so final and surreal. She will be missed by the sports world. Her loss will be felt.”
Steady rise to the top
Van Ruijven started skating at the age of six. Initially over the long distance, but her love for the short distance was immediate. “I tried it and never returned to the Long Track,” she once told Telegraaf.
As a ten-year-old, she is said to have decided to become an Olympic champion one day. At 17, she took the next step into the association’s training center in Heerenveen, at 19 she made her World Cup debut. She earned the nickname “Panther” through her style, always ready to strike like a panther.
She went on to become European champion five times, in addition to the 2019 World Championship title. Only the great goal of Olympic victory was still missing, the 2022 Games in Beijing were to be her Games. But it never came to that.
Her early death shook the Dutch team. Van Ruijven’s teammates Yara van Kerkhof, Suzanne Schulting and Rianne de Vries also expressed their dismay at NOS at the time. At least they were allowed to say goodbye to her.
“It’s very nice that we were able to hold her hand for a while. That we can say how much we love her and that we will miss her. Then you realize that you will never get her back,” said Schulting.
However, nobody will forget her, as short tracker Daan Breeuwsma made clear: “Your panther heart will be in our hearts forever.”