Olshansky was born in the industrial city of Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine).[1][2] His father Yury had played basketball for the Red Army.[3][4] 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.[3][4][5] His maternal grandfather, Abraham Rubshevsky, fought in World War II for the Red Army, and was injured 11 times.
[3][4]
Olshansky is Jewish and he acknowledged that, "It's who I am; my culture; my roots".[1][6][7] During his youth he attended the Lisa Kampner Hebrew Academy in San Francisco, headed by Rabbi Pinchos Lipner, an Orthodox Jewish day school.[3][4][8] 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.[3][7][9] After two years, he also began playing football in his junior year in high school.[4][5]
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.[10] 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.[11] He was used at all defensive line positions.[5]
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.[12][13] Olshansky left school following his junior season, with one year of eligibility remaining.[12]
In early try-outs for the draft, he bench-pressed 102.1 kilograms (225 lbs) 41 times on one try, two presses short of the rookie record.[3] He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.9 seconds and jumped 33.5 inches from a stationary position.[4][7] 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."[12]
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.[15][16] 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.[4][17]
In his rookie season in 2004, he started all 16 of the team's games.[18][19]
Olshansky was ejected from a game against the Denver Broncos on 19 November 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.[20]
With the Chargers, he had 151 tackles and 11 sacks in 75 games, starting all but 5 of them.[7][21]
Dallas Cowboys
Olshansky signed a four-year contract with the Dallas Cowboys on 6 March 2009.[7] The deal was worth $18 million, with $8 million of it guaranteed.[22] 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.[23] He was released on 3 September 2011.[24][25]
Miami Dolphins
Olshansky was signed by the Miami Dolphins on 20 September 2011. He was waived on 30 November.[26]
He has many tattoos, including two Stars of David on his neck.[7][28] He is regularly featured in Jewish news publications.[8]
Olshansky is married to Liya Rubinshteyn, whom he met at the Lisa Kampner Hebrew Academy in San Francisco. They live in San Rafael, CA and have two sons.[10]
He was detained on Thursday, 1 December 2011, for marijuana possession as part of an undercover bust that resulted in 280 arrests. The Broward County Sheriff's Office went to Olshansky's condo in Fort Lauderdale to investigate Olshansky's friend, but ended up detaining both men. He was never charged with possession of 19 grams of marijuana.[29]
