Rüegg grew up in Tuggen and took part in several different sports in his youth, including skiing, gymnastics, athletics, football and ice hockey.

He acted as a forerunner for the prestigious Lauberhorn downhill race in Wengen, and also competed in Europa Cup and FIS Tour alpine skiing events before leaving the sport in the early 1990s due to back problems.

In addition he competed in steinstossen (stone-throwing) competitions (winning multiple national individual and team titles) and decathlon during the 1990s, breaking the decathlon points record for the canton of Schwyz in 1994 and 1996 and setting a personal best of 7,071 points.

[1] In his subsequent career he won one bronze and five silver medals in the Bobsleigh European Championship, one World Cup race (a two-man event at Cesana Pariol in 2007)[2] and four Swiss national titles (two in each of the two-man and four man disciplines).

[1] Rüegg competed in two Winter Olympics, earning his best finish of fourth in the two-man event at Vancouver in 2010.