Olaf Pollack

Olaf Pollack (born September 20, 1973 in Räckelwitz, East Germany) is a former professional track cyclist and road racing cyclist specializing in sprint races and competitions.

At the 2000 Olympic Games, Pollack entered the team pursuit and the madison. Pollack rode in the qualifying rounds for the team pursuit, but was not used in the German team that rode the final and won; Pollack still received a golden medal. For winning the gold medal at the Olympic Games 2000 Pollack was decorated with the Silver Laurel Leaf by Bundespräsident Johannes Rau (President of the Federal Republic of Germany) on Febr. 2. 2001 At the madison, Pollack rode together with Guido Fulst, and finished in sixth place.

Pollack returned to the track in 2008, when he rode at the 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, and finished in second place in the madison. At the 2008 Olympic Games, Pollack rode the madison together with Roger Kluge, and they finished fifth.

Olaf Pollack began his road cycling career at small German team Agro-Adler-Brandenburg in 1997. After 3 years he left for Team Gerolsteiner. In 2005 and 2006 he rode for T-Mobile, leaving in 2007 for Team Wiesenhof. The highlight of his road cycling career was wearing the pink jersey as leader of the general classification at the 2004 and 2006 Giro d'Italia. In August 2009, an eye problem made him end his cycling career, but a month later it became known that he had failed a drug test. In 2009 he was suspended by the German Cycling Federation.