Zinaida Turchyna

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]

Zinaida Turchyna

Turchyna (right) at the 1980 Olympics
Personal information
Born	17 May 1946 (1946-05-17) (age 74) Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	73 kg (161 lb)
Sport
Sport	Handball
Club	HC Spartak Kyiv
Coached by	Igor Turchin
Medal record Representing the  Soviet Union Olympic Games 1976 Montreal Team 1980 Moscow Team 1988 Seoul Team World Championship 1982 Hungary Team 1986 Netherlands Team 1975 Soviet Union Team 1978 Czechoslovakia Team 1973 Yugoslavia Team

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]