Karin Nathalie Ruckstuhl (born 2 November 1980 in Baden, Switzerland

Baden, Switzerland

Baden is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Aargau, on the west bank of the river Limmat, located in the Limmat Valley , northwest of Zürich. It is the seat of the district of Baden...

) is a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 heptathlete.

Biography

Her first major championship was the 2002 European Athletics Championships and she finished 13th in the heptathlon. She came close to the podium at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships

2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships

The 10th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations were held in the Budapest Arena, Hungary between March 5 and March 7, 2004...

, finishing fourth, and took part in her first Olympics at the 2004 Athens Games, where she was 16th in the final rankings with a national record of 6108 points. She again just fell short of the podium with a fourth place at the 2005 European Athletics Indoor Championships and was eighth outdoors at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics

2005 World Championships in Athletics

The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland , the site of the first IAAF World Championships in 1983. One theme of the 2005 championships was paralympic sports, some of...

 later that season.

The 2006 season was a breakthrough for Ruckstuhl – she won silver medal

Silver medal

A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....

s at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships

2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships

The 11th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations was held in Moscow from March 10 to March 12, 2006 in the Olimpiyski Sport arena....

 and the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

. Her new record performance of 6423 points at the European Championships (a Dutch record

Dutch records in athletics

The following are the national records in athletics in the Netherlands maintained by its national athletics federation: Koninklijke Nederlandse Atletiek Unie .-Men:-Women:-Men:-Women:+ = en route to a longer distance...

) meant that she was ranked fourth in the world in the heptathlon that year. She also improved indoors, registering a national record of 4801 points in the women's pentathlon

Women's pentathlon

The pentathlon is a sports contest made up of five events . The women's pentathlon was contested in the Olympics from 1964 until 1980, and it was replaced in the 1984 Games with the heptathlon. It had a different set of events than the ancient Olympic pentathlon...

 for the bronze medal

Bronze medal

A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...

 at the 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships. However, she did not manage to finish the heptathlon at that year's major competition – the 2007 World Championships in Athletics

2007 World Championships in Athletics

The 11th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007...

.

She suffered a herniated disc

Spinal disc herniation

A spinal disc herniation , informally and misleadingly called a "slipped disc", is a medical condition affecting the spine due to trauma, lifting injuries, or idiopathic, in which a tear in the outer, fibrous ring of an intervertebral disc allows the soft, central portion A spinal disc herniation...

 in her back and underwent surgery in 2008. Her time out from the sport was extended even further after she injured her Achilles tendon

Achilles tendon

The Achilles tendon , also known as the calcaneal tendon or the tendo calcaneus, is a tendon of the posterior leg. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles to the calcaneus bone.- Anatomy :The Achilles is the tendonous extension of 3 muscles in the lower leg:...

 in February 2010. Following such serious injuries and some two and a half years away from top level competition, she decided to stop competing in multi-sport events and focused her efforts on just long jump

Long jump

The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point...

ing.

Achievements

2001	European Athletics U23 Championships 2001 European Athletics U23 Championships The 2001 European Athletics U23 Championships is the 2001 version of the European Athletics U23 Championships. It was held in the Dutch city of Amsterdam.-Men's Results:-Women's Results:-Medals table:- References :*...	Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population... , Netherlands	13th	Heptathlon
	Summer Universiade Athletics at the 2001 Summer Universiade At the 2001 Summer Universiade, the athletics events were held in Beijing, People's Republic of China. A total of 45 events were contested, of which 23 by male and 22 by female athletes. The host country, China, took the most gold medals and the most medals overall . The United States were a close...	Beijing Beijing Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's... , China	7th	Heptathlon
2002	European Championships	Munich Munich Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat... , Germany	13th	Heptathlon
2003	Hypo-Meeting Hypo-Meeting The Hypo-Meeting is an annual athletics competition that takes place in the Mösle stadium in Götzis, Austria, held in the spring . The meeting began as a men's only contest in 1975 and a women's competition was added in 1981...	Götzis Götzis Götzis is a town in the western Austrian state of Vorarlberg, district Feldkirch.The town is well-known for its annual hypo-combined events meeting, the so called Hypo-Meeting, where some of the world's leading decathletes and heptathletes gather in the Mösle stadium... , Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...	9th	Heptathlon 2003 Hypo-Meeting The 29th edition of the annual Hypo-Meeting took place on 31 May and 1 June 2003 in Götzis, Austria. The track and field competition, featuring a decathlon and a heptathlon event, was part of the 2003 IAAF World Combined Events Challenge....	6011 pts PB
2004	World Indoor Championships 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 10th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations were held in the Budapest Arena, Hungary between March 5 and March 7, 2004...	Budapest Budapest Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter... , Hungary Hungary Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...	4th	Pentathlon 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships – Women's pentathlon The Women's pentathlon event at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships was held on March 5.-Medalists:-60 metres hurdles:-High jump:-Shot put:-Long jump:-800 metres:-Final results:-References:*...	4640 pts NRi
	Hypo-Meeting Hypo-Meeting The Hypo-Meeting is an annual athletics competition that takes place in the Mösle stadium in Götzis, Austria, held in the spring . The meeting began as a men's only contest in 1975 and a women's competition was added in 1981...	Götzis Götzis Götzis is a town in the western Austrian state of Vorarlberg, district Feldkirch.The town is well-known for its annual hypo-combined events meeting, the so called Hypo-Meeting, where some of the world's leading decathletes and heptathletes gather in the Mösle stadium... , Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...	10th	Heptathlon 2004 Hypo-Meeting The 30th edition of the annual Hypo-Meeting took place on May 29 and May 30, 2004 in Götzis, Austria. The track and field competition, featuring a decathlon and a heptathlon event was part of the 2004 IAAF World Combined Events Challenge....
	Summer Olympics 2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...	Athens Athens Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state... , Greece Greece Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....	16th	Heptathlon	6108 pts NR
2005	European Indoor Championships	Madrid Madrid Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan... , Spain	4th	Hepathlon	4605
	Hypo-Meeting Hypo-Meeting The Hypo-Meeting is an annual athletics competition that takes place in the Mösle stadium in Götzis, Austria, held in the spring . The meeting began as a men's only contest in 1975 and a women's competition was added in 1981...	Götzis Götzis Götzis is a town in the western Austrian state of Vorarlberg, district Feldkirch.The town is well-known for its annual hypo-combined events meeting, the so called Hypo-Meeting, where some of the world's leading decathletes and heptathletes gather in the Mösle stadium... , Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...	6th	Heptathlon 2005 Hypo-Meeting The 31st edition of the annual Hypo-Meeting took place on 28 May and 29 May 2005 in Götzis, Austria. The track and field competition, featuring a decathlon and a heptathlon event, was part of the 2005 IAAF World Combined Events Challenge....
	Décastar Décastar Décastar is an annual athletics competition that takes place in Talence, in Gironde. Organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations , it is one of the athletics meetings that make up the IAAF World Combined Events Challenge...	Talence Talence Talence is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.It is the third-largest suburb of the city of Bordeaux, and is adjacent to it on the south side... , France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...	7th	Heptathlon 2005 Décastar The 29th edition of the annual Décastar took place on 17 September and 18 September 2005 in Talence, France. The track and field competition, featuring a decathlon and a heptathlon event, was part of the 2005 IAAF World Combined Events Challenge....
	World Championships 2005 World Championships in Athletics The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland , the site of the first IAAF World Championships in 1983. One theme of the 2005 championships was paralympic sports, some of...	Helsinki Helsinki Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is... , Finland	8th	Heptathlon	6174
2006	World Indoor Championships 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 11th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations was held in Moscow from March 10 to March 12, 2006 in the Olimpiyski Sport arena....	Moscow Moscow Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent... , Russia Russia Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...	2nd	Pentathlon 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships – Women's pentathlon The Women's pentathlon event at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships was held on March 11.-Medalists:-60 metres hurdles:-High jump:-Shot put:-Long jump:-800 metres:-Final results:-References:*...
	European Championships	Gothenburg Gothenburg Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area... , Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....	2nd	Heptathlon 2006 European Athletics Championships – Women's heptathlon The women's heptathlon at the 2006 European Athletics Championships were held at the Ullevi on August 7 and August 8.Biggest drama occurred on the first day as Eunice Barber, who was leading after high jump, had to stop because of injury. After that no one could challenge Klüft, who took first gold...	6423 pts NR
			12th (heats)	Long jump
2007	European Indoor Championships 2007 European Indoor Championships in Athletics The 29th European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England, from Friday, 2 March to Sunday, 4 March 2007...	Birmingham Birmingham Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a... , England England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...	3rd	Pentathlon	4801 pts NRi
	Hypo-Meeting 2007 Hypo-Meeting The 33rd edition of the annual Hypo-Meeting took place on 26 May and 27 May 2007 in Götzis, Austria. The track and field competition, featuring a decathlon and a heptathlon event, was part of the 2007 IAAF World Combined Events Challenge....	Götzis Götzis Götzis is a town in the western Austrian state of Vorarlberg, district Feldkirch.The town is well-known for its annual hypo-combined events meeting, the so called Hypo-Meeting, where some of the world's leading decathletes and heptathletes gather in the Mösle stadium... , Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...	6th	Heptathlon	6260 pts
	World Championships 2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007...	Osaka Osaka is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe... , Japan	DNF	Heptathlon

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