On most days, Rich Ruohonen is a personal injury attorney in Bloomington, Minnesota.

This month, he’s a record-setting Olympian for Team USA at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

Ruohonen, the 54-year-old lawyer from Minnesota, on Thursday became the oldest American to ever compete in the Winter Olympics. He was an alternate on USA’s curling team and made his Olympic debut on Thursday in an 8-3 loss to Switzerland.

Ruohonen is twice the age of his oldest teammate, 27-year-old Ben Richardson. The oldest curler on the women’s team is 38-year-old Aileen Geving.

Ruohonen’s path to the Olympic team was anything but straightforward.

The Brooklyn Park, Minnesota native began curling in fifth grade in 1981 and has been trying to make the U.S. Olympic team since the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. Ruohonen previously represented USA at the World Championships in 2008 and 2018, and won back-to-back medals at the senior world championships in men’s curling, including a silver medal in 2024 and a bronze in 2025.

But he never qualified for the Olympic team – until 2026.

During Thursday’s round-robin competition, USA trailed 8-2 against Switzerland, which was about to close out the match for the win. But first, Ruohonen asked the Swiss team if he could throw two stones so he could officially say he competed at the Winter Olympics.

“And they said, ‘Go enjoy the moment,’” Ruohonen said, according to CNN. “I’d rather been up 8-2, but they said right away, ‘Hey, we’re going to get Rich in.’”

Ruohonen subbed in for American teammate Aidan Oldenburg and helped trim the deficit to 8-3 before Team USA conceded the match to Switzerland. USA dropped to 1-1 with the loss. The men’s team will next compete against Canada on Friday, Feb. 13 at 3:05 a.m. EST.

While Ruohonen set one age-related record for Team USA, Austrian snowboarder Benjamin Karl became the oldest individual gold medalist in Winter Olympics history when he won the men’s parallel giant slalom on Sunday.

Karl celebrated by stripping off his shirt and flexing before diving into a pile of snow, which he said was in tribute to alpine skiing legend Herman “The Herminator” Maier, according to AP. The victory marked his second consecutive gold medal in the event.