Ihor Yevdokymovych Turchyn (Ukrainian: Ігор Євдокимович Турчин; 16 November 1936 – 7 November 1993) was a Ukrainian handball coach, who headed the Soviet and then Ukrainian national teams from 1973 to 1993,[1] bringing them to three Olympic and five world championship medals.[2][3]

Ihor Turchyn
Personal information
Born(1936-11-16)16 November 1936
Sofiental, Cetatea Albă, Kingdom of Romania (now Sofiivka, Ukraine)
Died7 November 1993(1993-11-07) (aged 56)
Bucharest, Romania
Medal record
Coach for women's handball
 Soviet Union
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1976 Montreal Team
Gold medal – first place 1980 Moscow Team
Bronze medal – third place 1988 Seoul Team
World Championship
Bronze medal – third place 1973 Yugoslavia Team
Silver medal – second place 1975 Soviet Union Team
Silver medal – second place 1978 Czechoslovakia Team
Gold medal – first place 1982 Hungary Team
Gold medal – first place 1986 Netherlands Team

Biography

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In 1959, Turchyn assembled a handball team of teenage girls, which in 1962 became HC Spartak Kyiv.[4] The club became 20-time Soviet champion (1969–1988) and 13-time winner of the EHF Champions League (1970–1973, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985–1988).[1][5]

In 1965, he married Zinaida Stolitenko, a trainee 10 years his junior. 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.[6] In his last years, Turchyn suffered several heart attacks. He underwent a complex bypass surgery in Norway, and after that coached the Norwegian women's handball team for eight months.[6] He died of a heart attack during an EHF Cup match in Romania in 1993. After his death, his wife took over his coaching positions with Spartak Kyiv and the Ukrainian national team.[1][7]

Awards

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References

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