Rubenis in 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 26 September 1978 (1978-09-26) (age 47) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 184 cm (6 ft 0 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 90 kg (198 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Luge | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Mārtiņš Rubenis (born 26 September 1978) is a retiredLatvianluger who competed between 1998 and 2014. He won the bronze medal at the men's singles event at the2006 Winter Olympics inTurin, becoming the first Latvian (i.e. representing Republic of Latvia, as opposed to the Soviet Union) to win a medal at the Winter Olympics and the only one fr[citation needed] He won his second bronze medal at the2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi in the Team Relay event.[1] In total he competed in five Olympics.[citation needed]
Rubenis has also won the gold medal at the 1998 World Junior Championships, as well as the silver and bronze medals at the2003 and2004 World Championships respectively. He also won three medals in the Team Relay event at theFIL European Luge Championships with a golds in2008 and2010, and a bronze in2006.
Rubenis retired after the 2014 Winter Olympics. He announced his retirement after the men's event, in which he finished 10th, yet a few days later Rubenis won a bronze medal being a part of the Latvian Relay Team. As a result, he and his team-mates in the relay squad were featured on acommemorative stamp issued byLatvian Post.[2] Following his retirement, he was appointed as coach of the Latvian national luge team, and additionally uses his skills as a mechanical engineer to design sleds for the team, having already made his own sleds whilst competing. He also became a member of theLatvian Olympic Committee,[citation needed] having previously served as an athlete representative to theInternational Luge Federation.[3]
Rubenis is a musician and DJ and a member of the DJs group Värka Kru.[4]
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| Preceded by | Latvian Men's Sportspersonality of the Year 2006 | Succeeded by |