Golan Pollack

Pollack won a gold medal at the 2009 Maccabiah Games in the 66 kg division.

At the 2011 World Championships, Pollack reached the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by Miklós Ungvári of Hungary. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Pollak lost in the first round to David Larose of France.

Pollack won the European Open in Sofia in 2014. On 5 December, Pollack won a silver medal at the 2014 Tokyo Grand Slam.

On 25 August, Pollack won a bronze medal at the 2015 World Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan after defeating Davaadorjiin Tömörkhüleg of Mongolia. During that day he also beat Georgii Zantaraia of Ukraine, ranked number one in the world. He became the sixth Israeli to win a medal at the World Judo Championships, joining Yael Arad (1991, bronze; 1993, silver), Oren Smadja (1995, silver), Ariel Ze'evi (2001, silver), Alice Schlesinger (2009, bronze), and Yarden Gerbi (2013, gold; 2014, silver).

Pollack won a silver medal at the 2016 Düsseldorf Grand Prix, losing in the final to world champion An Ba-ul of Korea.

Pollack represented Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics in judo, competing in the men's 66 kg event where he was ranked 6th. After receiving a first-round bye, he was eliminated by Zambia's Mathews Punza. His coach, former Olympic medalist Oren Smadja, said: “Golan used a move he shouldn’t have used and doesn’t usually use. The move doesn’t even have a name. It’s a move where you try to surprise your opponent by falling on your back on the mat, but it risks a lock, which is exactly what happened to Golan. Golan lost to himself, and his opponent got a gift." Pollack left the match in tears, and collapsed to his knees, hiding his face. He said: “I’m very disappointed, especially after all the long way I’ve come in the last four years.... I thank everyone for their support, and I’m sorry I’ve disappointed you.”

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