Early years

Olshansky was born in the industrial city of Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, Soviet Union. His father Yury had played basketball for the Red Army. Shortly before the break-up of the Soviet Union, he and his family moved to San Francisco in 1989, when he was seven years old. His maternal grandfather, Abraham Rubshevsky, fought in World War II for the Red Army, and was injured 11 times.

Olshansky is Jewish, and said "It's who I am; my culture; my roots". During his youth he attended the Lisa Kampner Hebrew Academy in San Francisco, headed by Rabbi Pinchos Lipner, an Orthodox Jewish day school. He then attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory on a basketball scholarship, and - already 6' 5" in the 10th grade - played basketball for the school until his junior year, while concurrently playing basketball in the Maccabiah Games in St. Louis and Milwaukee. After two years, he also began playing football in his junior year in high school.

College career

At the University of Oregon, where he majored in psychology, Olshansky was honorable mention academic All-Pac-10 in his freshman year, and picked for Sports Illustrated’s All-Bowl Game team at the end of the season. He was honorable mention All-Pac-10 as a sophomore, second-team All-Pac-10 as a junior, and recipient of the Joe Schaffeld Trophy as the Ducks’ top defensive lineman after both his sophomore and junior seasons. He was used at all defensive line positions.

In his career at Oregon he had 146 tackles (89 solos), 11.5 sacks, 3 blocked kicks, and one 37-yard interception return in 38 games. Olshansky left school following his junior season, with one year of eligibility remaining.

He set a team record with a 505-pound bench press, and also holds team records in the clean and jerk and squat.

Professional career

2004 NFL Combine

Pre-draft measurables

Ht	Wt	40-yd dash	10-yd split	20-yd split	20-ss	3-cone	Vert	Broad	BP
6 ft 5 in	315 lb	4.96 s	1.75 s	2.80 s	4.41 s	7.61 s	33.5 in	9 ft 2 in	43 reps

In early try-outs for the draft, he bench-pressed 102.1 kilograms (225 lbs) 43 times on one try, two presses short of the rookie record. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.9 seconds and jumped 33.5 inches from a stationary position. He scored high on the Wonderlic intelligence test in spite of still being unfamiliar with the English language. A National Football Conference scouting director observed: "He can play both end and tackle, he can control the point and rush the passer, he's a very good athlete."

San Diego Chargers

In the second round (35th overall) of the 2004 NFL Draft, the San Diego Chargers selected Olshansky out of the University of Oregon. In August 2004, Olshansky and the Chargers agreed on a 6-year contract, with the final year being voidable. The contract called for a $2.25 million signing bonus and had a value of $5.2 million over five years, through the 2008 NFL season. He became the NFL's first Soviet-born player.

In his rookie season in 2004, he started all 16 of the team's games.

Olshansky was ejected from a game against the Denver Broncos on November 19, 2006. He punched Broncos center Tom Nalen after what appeared to be Nalen trying to cut block Olshansky on a clock-stopping spike play. Olshansky had recently had knee surgery when Nalen went after Olshansky's knees. Two days later, the NFL fined Nalen $25,000 for the cut block, more than double the $10,000 fine Olshansky received for the punch.

With the Chargers, he had 151 tackles and 11 sacks in 75 games, starting all but 5 of them.

Dallas Cowboys

Olshansky signed a four-year contract with the Dallas Cowboys on March 6, 2009. The deal was worth $18 million, with $8 million of it guaranteed. He finished the season with 76 tackles (seventh on the team), 2 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, 12 quarterback pressures and 3 passes defensed.

In 2010, he started 14 games, registering 38 tackles (tenth on the team), one tackle for loss, 4 quarterback pressures and 2 passes defensed. He was released on September 3, 2011.

Miami Dolphins

Olshansky was signed by the Miami Dolphins on September 20, 2011. He was waived on November 30.

NFL stats

Year	Team	GP	COMB	TOTAL	AST	SACK	FF	FR	FR YDS	INT	IR YDS	AVG IR	LNG	TD	PD
2004	SD	16	39	24	15	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
2005	SD	14	29	18	11	3.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2006	SD	13	33	18	15	1.5	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
2007	SD	16	49	35	14	3.5	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	3
2008	SD	16	29	21	8	2.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2009	DAL	16	40	29	11	1.5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2010	DAL	16	38	17	21	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
2011	MIA	8	7	4	3	0.0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Career		115	264	166	98	12.5	5	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	8

Key

• GP: games played
• COMB: combined tackles
• TOTAL: total tackles
• AST: assisted tackles
• SACK: sacks
• FF: forced fumbles
• FR: fumble recoveries
• FR YDS: fumble return yards
• INT: interceptions
• IR YDS: interception return yards
• AVG IR: average interception return
• LNG: longest interception return
• TD: interceptions returned for touchdown
• PD: passes defensed

Personal life

He has many tattoos, including two Stars of David on his neck. He is regularly featured in Jewish news publications.

Olshansky is married to Liya Rubinshteyn, whom he met at the Lisa Kampner Hebrew Academy in San Francisco. They live in Dallas, and have a son.

He was arrested Thursday, December 1, 2011, for marijuana possession as part of an undercover bust that resulted in 280 arrests. The Broward Sheriff’s Office went to Olshansky’s condo in Fort Lauderdale to investigate Olshansky’s friend, but ended up arresting both men. He was charged with possession of 19 grams of marijuana.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]