Zinaida Turchyna
Turchyna (right) at the 1980 Olympics
Personal information
Born17 May 1946 (1946-05-17) (age 77)
Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Height180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight73 kg (161 lb)
Sport
SportHandball
ClubHC Spartak Kyiv
Coached byIgor Turchin
Medal record
Representing the  Soviet Union
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place1976 MontrealTeam
Gold medal – first place1980 MoscowTeam
Bronze medal – third place1988 Seoul Team
World Championship
Gold medal – first place1982 HungaryTeam
Gold medal – first place1986 NetherlandsTeam
Silver medal – second place1975 Soviet UnionTeam
Silver medal – second place1978 CzechoslovakiaTeam
Bronze medal – third place1973 YugoslaviaTeam

Zinaida Mykhaylivna Turchyna (Ukrainian: Зінаїда Михайлiвна Турчина, née Stolitenko on 17 May 1946) is a retired Ukrainian handball player. Coached by her husband Igor Turchin she competed for the Soviet Union in all major international tournaments in 1973–1988, except for the boycotted 1984 Summer Olympics, and won three Olympic[1] and five world championship medals.[2][3] In 2000 a panel from the International Handball Federation and sports journalists named her the best female handball player of the 20th century.[4][5]

Stolitenko was brought to handball in 1959 by Igor Turchin, a team-sports coach 10 years her senior, who later headed HC Spartak Kyiv in 1962–1993 and the Soviet handball team in 1973–1993. She married him in 1965 and changed her last name from Stolitenko to Turchyna. They had a daughter Natalia (born 1971) and a son, Mikhail (born 1983). Natalia played handball alongside her mother for Spartak Kyiv, while Mikhail went into basketball.[5] After the death of her husband in 1993 Turchyna took over his coaching positions at Spartak Kyiv and the Ukrainian national team. She retired from coaching in 1996, but still works as the manager of Spartak Kyiv.[6][7] Since 2002 she lives with her boyfriend Vladimir.[8]

References

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