(Courtesy: Huskie Athletics)

By Wray Morrison

Listen: A Conversation with Diane Jones Konihowski

The Huskie Women of Influence Breakfast – February 13th – TCU Place

Jan 23, 2024 | 5:39 PM

Diane Jones Konihowski is looking forward to coming home.

The University of Saskatchewan graduate and three-time pentathlon Olympian is the keynote guest for the Huskie Women of Influence Breakfast on Tuesday, February 13, at TCU Place.

The Aden Bowman high school track and field star will take part in a fireside chat with 2024 Huskie athletes Carly Ahlstrom, (basketball) Amou Midal, (soccer) and SueAnne Harms. (wrestling) “I just want to know a little more about them”, she said. “Who their role models are and where do they want to be in five years. I know they are all going to be role models in some way.”

Jones Konihowski, who was born in Vancouver but raised in Saskatoon, made her first national team appearance in grade 10.

She won a gold medal, at 16 years of age, in the women’s high jump at the 1967 Canadian Indoor Track and Field Championships in Edmonton.

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After high school, she decided to stay and attend the University of Saskatchewan in 1969 while pursuing her dream of being an Olympian. “It made sense, after I graduated, that my athletic career would take me to the U of S…keep me in Saskatoon and work under the great coaching of Lyle Sanderson”, said Jones Konihowski.

She was an exceptional athlete, who also played volleyball for three years. “That’s when Lyle said, ‘I think you have to make a choice.’ I chose track and field because I knew it would be only up to me to make the Olympic Games.”

Jones Konihowski trained at the U of S before the Field House or PAC existed. She trained at the old Physical Education gym. “There were 100 laps to a mile”, she joked. ‘I’d hurdle across the gym. It would be three hurdles and my sister would be at the door making sure no one was there, and I’d decelerate up the stairs.”

A long list of accomplishments include being a three time member of the Canadian Olympic team, (1972, 1976 and 1980) winning gold medals at the 1975 and 1979 Pan-American Games and a gold medal finish at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton.

She continued involvement in sport after retiring from competition. Jones was Canada’s chef de mission at the 2000 Olympic Summer Games in Sydney, Australia.

Jones Konihowski knows the importance of women’s contributions to athletics.

She is encouraged about new opportunities such as the new Professional Women’s Hockey League and the Canadian professional women’s soccer league, set to begin in 2025. “I sat on the Canadian Olympic committee for 18 years and most of our medals, internationally, were won by women”, she said. “It really is about time that they have a path forward for professional sport.”

Tickets for the Huskie Women of Influence Breakfast can be purchased at: https://usask.universitytickets.com

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wray.morrison@pattisonmedia.com

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