Diane Jones Konihowski

Athlete (1986)

Track and Field

Diane was born in Vancouver in 1951, but spent most of her early life in Saskatoon. While she also played volleyball, she showed her prowess in track and field, and while a Grade 10 student she made Canada's national team as a high jumper and javelin thrower.

Urged on by her coach, Lyle Sanderson, the multi-talented Diane entered the pentathlon. She was on Canada's team at the 1972 Munich Olympics. In 1975, she won the gold for Canada at the Pan-American Games in Mexico City. At the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Diane placed sixth. Two years later she turned in another gold-medal performance at the Edmonton Commonwealth Games. Another gold came her way in the 1979 Pan-American Games in Puerto Rico. She was co-winner in 1975 of Canada's Woman Athlete of the Year award and won it again in 1978.

She was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.

---

" Next to marrying a Ukrainian Eskimo this is the best thing that has happened to me. " -- Diane Jones Konihowski after winning the gold medal in pentathlon in the 1978 Commonwealth Games. Husband John Konihowski was a receiver with the Edmonton Eskimos