| Johannes Polgar | |
| Full Name: | Johannes Sebastian Polgar |
| Nickname: | Jojo |
| Birth Date: | 25 August 1977 |
| Birth Place: | Olpe, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany |
| Weight: | 740NaN0 |
| Classes: | Multihull, keelboat |
| Club: | Norddeutscher Regatta Verein |
| Coach: | Rigo de Nijs (NOR) |
| Show-Medals: | yes |
Johannes Sebastian Polgar (born 25 August 1977) is a German sailor, who specialized in the multihull (Tornado) and keelboat Star) classes.[1] Together with his partner Florian Spalteholz, he was named one of the country's top sailors in the mixed multihull catamaran for the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing in eighth place.[2] After the Games, Polgar decided to move into the Star class and eventually shared a gold-medal victory with his partner Markus Koy at the 2010 Europeans in Viareggio, Italy.[3] A member of North German Regatta Club (German: [[Norddeutscher Regatta Verein]]), Polgar trained most of his competitive sailing career under the tutelage of his Norwegian-born personal coach Rigo de Nijs.[4]
Polgar competed for the German sailing squad, as a 30-year-old skipper in the Tornado class, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Leading up to their maiden Games, he and crew member Spalteholz topped the selection criteria in a duel against brothers Tino and Niko Mittelmeier for the country's Tornado berth, based on their cumulative scores attained at two international regattas stipulated by the German Sailing Federation (German: Deutscher Segler Verband).[5] The German duo started off the race series in the middle of the fleet until the shifty wind conditions propelled them to the front on the final half with a single victory and a triad of top-five marks, making both Polgar and Spalteholz eligible for the medal race.[6] [7] An unforeseen capsize by the German duo on the initial run, however, saw their medal chances vanish, plummeting them further to eighth overall with 74 net points.[2] [8] [9]