Zhanna Pintusevich-Block

From Kiev, With Speed

Zhanna Pintusevich-Block
by Scott Granowitz

November, 2001--When people mention today's top Jewish athletes, Shawn Green, Jay Fiedler, Kerri Strug, Lenny Krayzelburg, and Mathieu Schneider often come up. Those are Jewish athletes with an American connection. However the top one, at least based on last year's performance, is a woman named Zhanna Pintusevich-Block.

What kind of name is that? Well, the 29-year-old Pintusevich-Block, a native of Kiev, Ukraine, burst onto the world track & field scene over four years ago at the World Championships in Athens. It was here that she ran a then personal best of 10.85 in a memorable runner-up finish to American superstar Marion Jones (10.83) in the 100 meters. A few days later that August she added a Gold Medal in the 200, although her forte is the 100.

The biggest race of her career came last August at the 2001 World's in Edmonton in what will go down as perhaps the biggest upset ever by a Jewish athlete. Pintusevich-Block shocked the world by ending the streak of 42 consecutive final-race meet victories in the 100 by Jones, the Sydney Gold Medallist. Her time of 10.82 in the final was the fastest time of the year by a woman and of course the fastest ever by a Jewish woman.

What made the victory so special for Pintusevich-Block against her more talented long-term rival were the gracious actions by Jones after her defeat.

"Marion showed her class and sportsmanship [after the race]," said Pintusevich-Block. "She is a great competitor and is really a class person. Many people were waiting for her to make an excuse and she did not. This says a lot about her as a person."

Pintusevich-Block came out of the blocks fast and held off a surging Jones at the finish line to win by three-hundredths of a second. It was truly a dream come true after coming so close in 1997 when she and others originally thought she had won (her victory lap celebration was cut short by the officials). Known primarily as a world-class finisher, it was her much improved start out of the blocks to thank for the upset.

The improvement in this area was a result of training with a coach well known for helping sprinters with their starts, Mark Block. In addition to being Zhanna's coach, Block has been Pintusevich-Block's husband since January, 1999.

Block, a former collegiate coach at Clemson and Cal-Berkeley who now earns a living as a track & field agent for Flynn Sports Management, at first had reservations along with Zhanna about the coach-wife relationship. But after a disappointing Sydney Olympics (according to Zhanna's expectations) in which she finished 5th in the 100 and 8th in the 200, Zhanna left her former coach Valentine Bondarenko behind to form another marriage with Mark.

The two practiced starts everywhere, including in their own house.

"She did come close to breaking furniture in the living room as we do not have much room," quipped the 37-year-old Block, who mentions Zhanna's "discipline and the ability to work very hard" as her best qualities.

Mark and Zhanna originally met at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. Pintuzevich-Block (nee Tarnopolskaya) at the time was married to Igor Pintusevich, a European class Jewish hurdler whom she competed alongside for the Soviet Union as far back as the 1991 Junior European Championships, where she won gold. It wasn't love at first sight for Mark and Zhanna - the two didn't start dating until months after Zhanna's divorce to Igor ended in 1997. These days the two live outside the Flynn Sports Management offices in the Johnson City, Tennessee area, where Zhanna trains half of the year while not competing on the world circuit.

Mark's Jewish heritage is something that puts Pintusevich-Block at ease with herself and the upbringing that she had in her beloved Kiev.

"I feel this way we share many things that we would not otherwise," said Pintusevich-Block about the importance of marrying a Jewish man. "Our thinking is very similar and our values are very similar. It is also amazing for two people who grew up in such different place how much in common we have and this we both believe is because of our Jewish up bringing - not just in a religious way."

Along with her training in Tennessee there's also the occasional winter visit to the Wingate Institute of Physical Education and Sport in Netanya, Israel, where Pintusevich-Block gets to train in warm weather at the Holy Land's version of Colorado Springs.

"To me Wingate is the best place in the World to train," said Pintusevich-Block. "They have everything right there that you could ever need.

What's in the future for Pintusevich-Block?

"It can't be answered in time," said Pintusevich-Block, who will continue competing under the Ukrainian flag. "But at least one more Olympics and a good chance I can go beyond that."

However, Pintusevich-Block, notoriously known for peaking at the end of the summer season, will have to adjust her busy European circuit schedule in the future.

"Rest is very important and sometimes I do not take enough and this has hurt me in the past," said Pintusevich-Block. "You have to run on the circuit to make a living but for me it takes its toll. I may even start to race a little less and see if this helps."

So perhaps Pintusevich-Block will cap off her career someday with equal accomplishments to that of Irena Kirszenstein-Szewinska, the legendary Jewish-Polish sprinter who set world records in the 100, 200, and 400-meter events in the 1960's and 1970's. The Kirszenstein and Tarnopolskaya families somewhat model each other. The Kirszenstein family escaped the Nazi concentration camps in Poland by running off to Russia, while Pintusevich-Block's mother was sent to Siberia as a child during the Soviet persecution of Jews.

Was Kirszenstein-Szewinska a role model to Pintusevich-Block growing up?

"Of course she was a great athlete but I did not know until now she was Jewish," said Pintusevich-Block.

It looks like Zhanna Pintusevich-Block is not only a great Jewish athlete like Kirszenstein-Szewinska, but also a role model for years to come.