Karine Ruby won the women’s giant-slalom gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.
Ruby represented France and finished ahead of Italy’s Deborah Compagnoni and Germany’s Hilde Gerg. Her victory was one of the defining Alpine-skiing performances of the Nagano Games and added to France’s strong Olympic record in the discipline.
Ruby was especially successful in giant slalom and became one of the most prominent female Alpine skiers of the late 1990s. She later moved into snowboard racing and won Olympic silver in parallel giant slalom at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
The Nagano result is distinct from Ruby’s later snowboard achievements. She won Alpine-skiing gold in 1998, while her 2002 Olympic medal came in snowboarding.