Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 29, 1978, Winnipeg, Manitoba Pentathlon August 6 mane Jones Canadas Diane Jones Koniowski is rated third Best in i the would in the women she was the Gold med fist at the 1975 pan american games and placed sixth at the 1976 Koniowski wort ing out during a recent visit to Czechoslovakia injured her Back this but is now in Peak condition Back in the 1960s a striking blonde raised eyebrows and male chauvinist hackles at the University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon Campus by invading what had previously been a me Only do main the colleges weight training at first there were Snarky comments from the but it rapidly became apparent that Diane Jones had an Edge on Many of them when it came to pumping today she is rather Good at Many Dif Ferent sports Accord specializes in the pen Tath loathe scale Down cha11engers h is Wilmy that any woman i Edmonton my be Able to de Turbo mane Jones Koni Hoskis hold on the Commonwealth title in the the Only at Etc who appears to Haw a Chance is sue a British runner who is ranked the second Best Penta mete in the with a Best score of 4385 she trails Koni Hoskis Best by 254 other entries who ought to make respectable showings Are Barbara Beable of new ranked sixth in the Commonwealth with a personal Best of 4148 Points Moira Walls of whose score of 4227 places her third i the Commonwealth and two Glynis Saunders and Erica Hooker is an Especial capable Long and a Good showing could help her to take the Bronze medal Commonwealth and world 4s39 Points ladies version of the mens decathlon that comes in five gruelling parts the 100 metre the High Long jump and 800 when the out door track and Field season got under Way this Spring the statuesque 153 whose Best Ever showing in the Pentathlon was an enviable 4639 was rated third Best in the Diane Jones Koniowski she recently married John a former track and Field Man who plays wide receiver for the Edmonton eskimos was born in Vancouver but spent 21 years of her Early life in where father Hugh owned a there was a saying in the Jones family that the Guys got the brains and the girls got the brother Dean is in computers and another brother works for environment Canada in the Northwest Diane was interested in sports from the As was her younger sister Dianes athletic career rapidly widened and finished with she turned to track and volleyball and attracted the attention of Bob a local High school teacher who was then a coach for the 1964 Cana Dian olympic As a while still Only a Grade 10 the Young athlete made her first National team As a High jumper and javelin an other major influence in her life was Lyle head track coach at the univer sity of Saskatchewan Sas Katoon who persuaded Diane to abandon volleyball and devote herself to eventually she gravitated toward the pen in which she proved a Fine Al Rounder with Only one weak spot she is a slow her Best efforts for individual Pentathlon events Are More than re she has run the 100metre hurdles in seconds and the 800metre run in 2 172 Sec along with impressive jumps and shot putting of if i could do that in one Pentathlon she of it would give me an other 150 Points and that would be within sight of the world its but the trouble is that we Canadian athletes Arent automatons like some of the other we have ups and like so Many other Canadian Koniowski has uttered some harsh words in the past about the or Lack forthcoming from the Federal govern while in training for the 76 olympics she announced that she was so fed up with the miserly govern ment handouts she would rather Wear Saskatchewan colors than the Canadian ones in she has often about the weighty Burden of National expectations Canadian ath letes Are obliged to carry into International compete As Amateur athletes she once were out there because we like to because we enjoy the but suddenly in not just Diane Jones any in representing can i belong to someone for All she can on occasion be to a truly olympian after handily scooping up a Gold at the 1975 pan american games in Mexico she airily dismissed the games As a nuisance that interfered with her training for the wok keep ;