Ernst Streng a gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics with the German pursuit team. beating Italy by a very close margin of .07 seconds. At the finish it was impossible to tell who had won, and the jury conferenced for 10 minutes before announcing that Germany was the gold medalist. All four track cyclists came from West Germany. After winning the Olympic gold medal the team was honored with the Silver Bay Leaf, the highest sports award in Germany.
Streng had also won silver at the 1963 World Championships in team pursuit. In 1964, the team also won gold at the Worlds. In 1965, Streng turned professional with lower success. He rode the Tour de France once in 1968 and raced five times at the Tour de Suisse (1966-70). In 1970, he retired and became a policeman in Köln (Cologne). In 1993 Streng died surprisingly during a cycling trip.