Name Zhanna Pintusevich-Block | Birth name Zhanna Tarnopolskaya Role Olympic athlete | |
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Full name Zhanna Pintusevich-Block Nominations Best Female Track Athlete ESPY Award | ||
Native name ZHanna Pіntusevich-Blok | ||
Zhanna Pintusevich-Block (Ukrainian: Жанна Пінтусевич-Блок; née Tarnopolskaya; born 6 July 1972) is a Ukrainian former world champion sprinter who competed in the Olympic Games.
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Early life
Zhanna Pintusevich-Block comes from a Jewish family. She was born in Nizhyn, Ukraine.
Track career
In 1991, Block won the 100 metres and 200 metres at the European Junior Championships, along with a silver in the 4 x 400 metres relay while representing the USSR.
She was 1997 World 200m Champion and 2001 World 100m champion. She also won 2 World silvers and 3 European silvers in the sprints.
Block was identified by Victor Conte as allegedly having taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs supplied by Conte in the BALCO scandal. In 2011, she was handed a two-year ban from sports for doping, and her results from 30 November 2002 onwards were disqualified. Her husband and coach, Mark Block, was given a 10-year ban from sport for supplying his wife with performance-enhancing drugs.
She took part in the 100 and 200 metres races at both the 1996 Summer Olympics and the 2000 Summer Olympics, reaching the final three times. She also took part in the 100 m and 4 x 100 metres relay at the 2004 Olympics. However, she failed to progress to the finals. She has never won an Olympic medal but she managed to finish in fourth place in the 100 m final in Sydney. Her 100 metres personal best time of 10.82 seconds was set in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on 6 August 2001.
Personal life
She has been married to her coach, Mark Block, since 1999. Block posed nude in the September 2004 edition of Playboy in a 'Women of the Olympics' feature.