Ernst Gerlach was on the gold medal winning East German team at the 1980 Moskva Olympics, winning the final after a 23-22 overtime victory against the Soviet Union. He played 47 international matches with the GDR national team and scored 35 goals. He played on the East German team that also won a bronze at the 1978 World Championships.
Domestically, Gerlach played with SC Magdeburg and helped them win five GDR Championships (1970, 1977, 1980, 1981 and 1982) and the 1978 and 1981 European Cup of Champions. After German re-unification he moved to Gummersbach where he worked with a company producing plastic tubulars, but he later returned to Magdeburg.
East Germany