Barbara Victoria Ruiken
Bergen Grappling's head coach won JJIF world gold in 2024, half a year after defending her doctorate, and years earlier studied power in BJJ teams.
Biography
Sources for this profile
Bergen Grappling Kampsportklubb, Instruktører (club website), read 2026-09-29.(opens in a new tab)
Barbara Ruiken is the head coach of Bergen Grappling, a martial arts club in Bergen, Norway.
Where in the source: Instructors page, BJJ entry for Barbara Ruiken, first sentence: 'hovedtrener i Bergen Grappling'.
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Bergen Grappling's instructors page states that she holds a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Where in the source: Instructors page, BJJ entry for Barbara Ruiken, second sentence: 'svart belte'.
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According to her club, she has trained Brazilian jiu-jitsu since 2011.
Where in the source: Instructors page, BJJ entry for Barbara Ruiken, second sentence: 'trent BJJ siden 2011'.
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Bergen Grappling, where she is head coach, is based at Vestre Strømkaien 1 in Bergen, Norway.
Where in the source: Instructors page footer, club address block: '5008 Bergen'.
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Eivind Windsrygg is listed on Bergen Grappling's instructors page as a black belt who has trained martial arts since 1991 and helped start the club in 2005.
Where in the source: Instructors page, first entry (Eivind Windsrygg, submission wrestling and BJJ), second sentence on his black belt and on starting the club in 2005.
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BJJ Beltchecker, Barbara Ruiken, Black Belt (community-verified rank registry), read 2026-09-29.(opens in a new tab)
Her Beltchecker profile gives 1991 as her birth year.
Where in the source: About panel, BIRTHDAY field, year 1991.
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The registry lists her academy as Bergen Grappling and her affiliation as BJJ Globetrotters, with Eivind Windsrygg as her coach.
Where in the source: About panel, ACADEMY and AFFILIATION fields; Coaches box listing Eivind Windsrygg.
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Norges Kampsportforbund, Historisk VM-gull i Brazilian Jiu Jitsu til Norge!, press release via NTB Kommunikasjon, 24 October 2024.(opens in a new tab)
The Norwegian Combat Sports Federation (Norges Kampsportforbund) announced on 24 October 2024 that Barbara Victoria Ruiken of Bergen Grappling had won gold in the women's +70 kg class of the jiu-jitsu discipline at the Ju-Jitsu International Federation (JJIF) World Championships in Heraklion, Greece, and quoted her as the new world champion.
Where in the source: Press release dated 24.10.2024, intro paragraph ('dame +70kg i jiu-jitsu-gren') and section Offisielt VM naming JJIF as organiser.
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The federation said it was the first time she had represented Norway in jiu-jitsu; Norway entered five athletes at those championships.
Where in the source: Section Fem utøvere til VM, sentence: 'første gang Barbara representerer Norge'.
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Kim Gibson, sports director of the Norwegian Combat Sports Federation, said that in the federation's 51-year history only one athlete had previously become an official senior world champion: Stein Rønning, at the 1990 Karate World Championships.
Where in the source: Quote attributed to sports director Kim Gibson, second paragraph of the release.
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After the win, Ruiken said she hoped the title would help open the way for a serious investment in competition jiu-jitsu from both the government and the federation, that there were many capable Norwegian martial artists she wanted to see on the podium in the coming years, and that her ambition was to keep enjoying jiu-jitsu and help the people she coaches reach their goals.
Where in the source: Section Ambisjonene videre, the quote attributed to Barbara Victoria Ruiken, from 'storsatsing på konkurranse-jiu jitsu' to her ambition for the people she coaches.
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Geir O. Jensen, head of the federation's jiu-jitsu section, said she was travelling home to Bergen the next day to instruct and train at a camp all weekend.
Where in the source: Paragraph attributed to Geir O. Jensen, head of the jiu-jitsu section, near the end of the release.
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Joachim Baardsen, Ruiken skrev norsk idrettshistorie: Tok VM-gull i jiu-jitsu, VG, 25 October 2024.(opens in a new tab)
VG reported on 25 October 2024 that Barbara Victoria Ruiken, aged 32 and representing Bergen Grappling, had won gold in the +70 kg class at the world championships in Greece, calling her the first world champion in jiu-jitsu in Norway's history.
Where in the source: Article lead and body: '32-åringen tok gull under VM i Hellas'; 'vant i klassen +70 kg'.
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A VG photo caption shows her in Greece with coach Lasse Bråthe after the gold.
Where in the source: Photo caption beginning 'LYKKELIGE: Trener Lasse Bråthe'.
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Elise Lystad, Doktor først, verdensmester i jiu-jitsu etterpå, Khrono, 7 December 2024 (updated 10 December 2024).(opens in a new tab)
Khrono reported that she defended her doctoral thesis, Discretionary Decision-Making in Child Protection Care Order Cases, at the University of Bergen on 16 April 2024, and became world champion in jiu-jitsu at the end of October the same year, representing Bergen Grappling in the +70 kg class.
Where in the source: FAKTA box in the interview, dated 16 April 2024: 'Disputerte ved Universitetet i Bergen'.
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In the interview she said she had done jiu-jitsu for more than 12 years and had almost always competed, but took a short break from competition in 2023, the last year of writing her thesis; once the thesis was submitted she trained harder, her first competition came a week and a half after the defence, and the world championships followed in October.
Where in the source: Answer to the question on taking part in a world championship during the fellowship: 'en og en halv uke etter disputas'.
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She said that early in 2024 she worked with a psychologist on the mental side of competing, and found unexpected parallels between competing in jiu-jitsu and defending a thesis: before her defence she made a plan with the psychologist and changed how she thought about defending, after which the defence went beyond her expectations, and she said it is a way of thinking she can also use in jiu-jitsu.
Where in the source: Same answer, later part: 'mange paralleller mellom jiu-jitsu og disputas'; also the article's standfirst on mental training.
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She described jiu-jitsu as the decisive element in her life: she has always done a lot of sport alongside school and education and needs both for balance, gets restless and cannot concentrate on study or work if she cannot train, and enjoys the break that play-fighting on the mat gives from heavy cognitive work.
Where in the source: Answer to the question on how the world title fits in, and the pull quote: 'Jeg må ha balanse'.
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Barbara Victoria Ruiken, Power and Politics in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Teams, master's thesis, University of Bergen, 2016; record in the Norwegian Research Information Repository (NVA), handle 1956/12774.(opens in a new tab)
In 2016 she submitted a master's thesis at the University of Bergen's Department of Government titled Power and Politics in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Teams; according to its abstract it was prompted by a debate in the BJJ community about 'BJJ politics' and by the BJJ Globetrotters' aim of being free of politics, and it examined how different BJJ teams steer their members' behaviour, using an online survey of team members and an analysis of documents the teams had published.
Where in the source: Repository record (master thesis, 30.05.2016, University of Bergen, Department of Government), abstract: opening sentence on 'BJJ politics', the research-question sentence and the sentence on the survey and document analysis.
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The thesis abstract contrasts the two kinds of team: in the traditional teams studied, the three dimensions of power of Dahl, of Bachrach and Baratz, and of Lukes were all in active use to keep a firm hierarchy in place, and the teams were formally organised; the alternative team kept no barriers between its members and other teams and had formalised little, and while its values were egalitarian its members backed a hierarchy, so the thesis finds it could not be said to direct them, although it tried.
Where in the source: Same record, abstract, final five sentences, contrasting the traditional teams with the 'alternative team'.
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Pysjamasprat (podcast), Episode 8 - Barbara Victoria Ruiken, SoundCloud, uploaded 16 February 2020.(opens in a new tab)
In February 2020 she was the guest on episode 8 of the Norwegian BJJ podcast Pysjamasprat, whose description introduced her as the author of a master's thesis on power and politics in jiu-jitsu clubs with many interesting opinions to share.
Where in the source: Episode description under the title Episode 8 - Barbara Victoria Ruiken: 'Makt og Politikk i Jiu-Jitsu klubber'.
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JudoInside, Barbara Ruiken (NOR), judo results, read 2026-09-29.(opens in a new tab)
She also has a judo competition record: the JudoInside database lists Barbara Ruiken of Norway, born 1991, with bronze medals in the women's under-70 kg and open classes at the 2012 Norwegian Championships in Oslo and a bronze in the under-78 kg class at the 2007 Norwegian U20 Championships in Mjøndalen.
Where in the source: Judo results table: 24 Mar 2012, result 3, Norwegian Championships Oslo, categories U70 and OpenW; 12 May 2007, result 3, Norwegian U20 Championships Mjondalen, U78. Header lists country Norway and birth year 1991.
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Artemis BJJ, Artemis BJJ Bergen Camp (camp announcement page), posted 10 September 2023, read 2026-09-29.(opens in a new tab)
The organisers of the first Artemis BJJ Bergen Camp, announced for 10 to 12 May 2024 at Bergen Grappling, listed her among the camp's instructors as a member of Bergen Grappling's coaching squad, and the planned schedule gave her the final session on the Sunday.
Where in the source: Camp details paragraph (10th to 12th May 2024, at Bergen Grappling), instructors paragraph naming Barbara Ruiken, and the Sunday 12th May 2024 schedule, 14:45-15:45 slot.
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Stavanger Ju Jitsu Klubb, Workshop med Barbara Victoria Ruiken (event page), read 2026-09-29.(opens in a new tab)
Stavanger Ju Jitsu Klubb's event page lists a workshop with her, hosted by the club and scheduled for 27 September 2025, planned as two sessions of about an hour and a half each, combining technique and sparring.
Where in the source: Event page, Tid og sted section (27. sep. 2025, 11:00-15:00, Stavanger) and the Om arrangementet section describing the two sessions.
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