Ra�l Roland Spank is a German athlete from Dresden who specialises in the high jump. He competed on the world stage for the first time at the 2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics in Marrakesh. He finished seventh in the final, jumping a personal best of 2.11 metres. The following year he moved up to the junior level, taking part in the 2006 World Junior Championships. He finished the tournament in Beijing with another personal best of 2.23 m, ending up in fifth place. In February 2008 he improved his indoor best to 2.26 m and further improvement came outdoors later that year at his first Olympic Games. Representing Germany at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he finished in fifth place with a personal best of 2.32 m, just two centimetres away from a medal position. After winning the 2009 indoor national championships, Spank competed for Germany at continental level for the first time, forming part of the team at the 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships. Although he had equalled his new indoor best of 2.30 m in the qualifying rounds, he only managed 2.25 m in the final of the competition, resulting in a seventh place finish. 

July 13th, 1988 in Dresden (Age 35)