Tomasz Robert Gollob (; born 11 April 1971 in

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...

, Poland) is a former Polish

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...

rider. He appeared in every

Speedway Grand Prix Speedway Grand Prix are a series of stand-alone motorcycle speedway events over the course of a season used to determine the Speedway World Champion. The series started in 1995 replacing the previous format of a single event final. The first win ...

series between its inaugural season in 1995 and 2013. His brother

Jacek Jacek is a Polish given name of Greek origin related Hyacinth, through the archaic form of ''Jacenty''. Its closely related equivalents are: Jacinto ( Spanish and Portuguese), Giacinto ( Italian), Jácint ( Hungarian) and Jacint ( Catalan, shorte ...

is also a speedway rider.

Career summary

Tomasz Gollob spent almost all of his career with hometown club

until he moved to Unia Tarnów in 2004. He has won the Polish Individual Championship eight times (between 1992 and 2009) and the Polish Pairs Championship ten times. He has also won the Polish Grand Prix eight times in thirteen years. He clinched the Speedway World Championship in 2010 after securing the championship in Terenzano, Italy. He is only the second

Pole Pole may refer to: Astronomy *Celestial pole, the projection of the planet Earth's axis of rotation onto the celestial sphere; also applies to the axis of rotation of other planets *Pole star, a visible star that is approximately aligned with the ...

to ever win the World Championship, following in the footsteps of

Jerzy Szczakiel Jerzy Szczakiel (28 January 1949 – 1 September 2020) was a Polish speedway rider. He was one of three Polish nationals to have won the Speedway World Championship, the others being 2010 World champion Tomasz Gollob and the 2019 Speedway Gran ...

who won in

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

. Gollob also spent some time in Australia in the early-mid 1990s based at the

North Arm Speedway North Arm Speedway was the first dedicated motorcycle speedway ever built in Adelaide, South Australia and was located in the industrial suburb of Gillman. It was run by the Speedway Riders' Association of South Australia and ran from 1981 unt ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. While In Australia, Gollob would race against many of his future World Championship rivals including

Jason Crump Jason Philip Crump (born 6 August 1975) is an Australian international motorcycle speedway rider. He is a three-time Speedway World Champion, a World Cup winner and a former World Under-21 Champion. In a 21-year career in Speedway, Jason Cr ...

Leigh Adams Leigh Scott Adams (born 28 April 1971 in Mildura, Victoria)Oakes, P.(2004). ''British Speedway Who's Who''. is an Australian former motorcycle speedway rider. He is a multiple Speedway Grand Prix winner and World Team Champion. He also wo ...

, and

Ryan Sullivan Ryan Geoffrey Sullivan (born 20 January 1975, in Fitzroy, Victoria) is a retired Australian international Motorcycle speedway rider who has won the Australian senior, Under-21, and Under-16 championships during his career. Sullivan achieved ...

. Gollob is the only World Champion to win the Jack Young Solo Cup held in Adelaide each year in memory of Australia's

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United K ...

and

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes ...

World Champion, Jack Young. He won the cup in 1995 at North Arm. Gollob was also a member of the

Poland speedway team The Poland national speedway team is the national motorcycle speedway team of Poland and is controlled by the Polish Motor Union ( PZM). The team is one of the major teams in international speedway and they won the Team World Championship nine ti ...

that won the

World Team Cup The World Team Cup was the international men's team championship of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The inaugural edition of the tournament was contested in 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica and was called the Nations Cup. No tourname ...

in 1996 and the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011. In 2007 Gollob survived a plane crash with fellow rider Rune Holta. The plane, flown by his father Władysław, crashed on the way to a speedway meeting at

Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999. From 1975 to 1998, it was the capital of the Tarnów ...

. Gollob escaped with cuts and bruises after pulling his father from the wreckage. In 2017 Gollob suffered serious injuries to head and spine in a motocross accident during a MX event in Northern Poland. For his sport achievements, he received the

Order of Polonia Restituta , image=Polonia Restituta - Commander's Cross pre-1939 w rib.jpg , image_size=200px , caption=Commander's Cross of Polonia Restituta , presenter = the President of Poland , country = , type=Five classes , eligibility=All , awar ...

: *

Knight's Cross (5th Class) in 2000 * POL Polonia Restituta Oficerski BAR

Officer's Cross (4th Class) in 2007 * POL Polonia Restituta Komandorski BAR

Commander's Cross (2010)

World final appearances

Individual World Championship

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

Pocking Pocking (; bar, label=Central Bavarian, Bocking) is a town in the district of Passau, in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is situated about 30 km south-west of Passau, close to the Austrian border. History A Roman settlement was founded in the ...

, Rottalstadion - 7th - 8pts *

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

Vojens Vojens (german: Woyens) is a railway town in Denmark with a population of 7,475 (1 January 2022).Speedway Center - 16th - 0pts

World Pairs Championship

Vojens Vojens (german: Woyens) is a railway town in Denmark with a population of 7,475 (1 January 2022).Speedway Center (with Piotr Świst / Piotr Baron) - 5th - 15pts (15)

World Team Cup

- Brokstedt, Holsteinring Brokstedt - 2nd - 20pts (16) *

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake stri ...

, Polonia Bydgoszcz Stadium - 6th - 13pts (12) *

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

- Diedenbergen, Hofheim-Diedenbergen - Winner - 27pts (15) *

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic (1997 film), Titanic'', the List of highest-grossing films, highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; ...

Piła Piła (german: Schneidemühl) is a city in northwestern Poland and the capital of Piła County, situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. Its population as of 2021 was 71,846, making it the third-largest city in the voivodeship after Poznań ...

, Stadion Żużlowy Centrum - 2nd - 25pts (13) *

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

Vojens Vojens (german: Woyens) is a railway town in Denmark with a population of 7,475 (1 January 2022).Speedway Center - 4th - 17pts (15)

World Cup

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

- 2nd - 65pts (27) *

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until 1 ...

East of England Showground The East of England Showground is a large showground area (667,731sqm) located on East of England Way in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The Showground is owned by Bellway as of around 2019 and the site currently includes the East of Engla ...

- 4th - 48pts (17) *

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

Vojens Vojens (german: Woyens) is a railway town in Denmark with a population of 7,475 (1 January 2022).Speedway Center - 4th - 49pts (20) *

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counci ...

Poole Stadium Poole Stadium is a speedway and former greyhound racing venue located in the town centre of Poole, Dorset in England. The stadium is owned by the Borough of Poole. It was built in the early 1930s in an attempt to provide a source of entertainm ...

- 4th - 22pts (1) *

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

- Winner - 62pts *

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

Leszno Leszno (german: Lissa, 1800–1918 ''Lissa in Posen'') is a historic city in western Poland, within the Greater Poland Voivodeship. It is the seventh-largest city in the province with an estimated population of 62,200, as of 2021. Previously, it ...

, Alfred Smoczyk Stadium - Winner - 55pts *

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Vojens Vojens (german: Woyens) is a railway town in Denmark with a population of 7,475 (1 January 2022).Speedway Center - 2nd - 46pts *

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

, Alfred Smoczyk Stadium - Winner - 44pts *

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A ...

Vojens Vojens (german: Woyens) is a railway town in Denmark with a population of 7,475 (1 January 2022).Speedway Center - Winner - 46pts

Individual Under-21 World Championship

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm (Central Bavarian: ''Pfahofa an da Uim'') is a municipality in Bavaria, Germany, capital of the district Pfaffenhofen. It is located on the river Ilm, and had a population of 23,282 in 2004. As of a press release in Oct ...

, Speedway Stadion Pfaffenhofen - 5th - 10pts

Speedway Grand Prix results

Family

Tomasz Gollob has two brothers and one sister

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gollob, Tomasz 1971 births Living people Polish speedway riders Individual Speedway World Champions Speedway World Cup champions Polish speedway champions Sportspeople from Bydgoszcz Polonia Bydgoszcz riders Ipswich Witches riders Commanders of the Order of Polonia Restituta