Jones Konihowski swaps cleats for helping hands
Former Olympic pentathlete now finds satisfaction working at a distress centre
Once upon a time, Diane Jones Konihowski was one of the world’s great athletes.
She travelled the globe, handed a baton to Queen Elizabeth, danced with Pierre Trudeau, made three Olympic teams.
Today, at work in her civilian life, most people she deals with have no idea about that hard-charging past. It doesn’t bother her.
“In (this) world, very few people know who I was,” says Jones Konihowski, a retired pentathlete who works as the director of fund development and communications for Distress Centre Calgary. “I’m working with a lot of young people, and a lot of new Canadians. We’re one of the most diverse organizations or agencies in the city.
“I still get recognized, but those people are a lot older. I used to be able to say ‘oh, you must be over 40.’ Now, it’s ‘oh, you must be over 50’, and it’s getting close to ‘you must be over 60.’ ”
Jones Konihowski, who grew up in Saskatoon, represented Canada at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics. She was the gold-medal pentathlon favourite heading into the 1980 Games in Moscow, but a multi-nation boycott — which she strenuously opposed — kept Canada home.
Her involvements, since retirement from track and field, are legion: She’s worked in media, was the CEO of Kid Sport Canada, spent several years as an entrepreneur in the corporate housing field, was employed by Theatre Calgary in fund development. She worked with the Alberta Sports Council and National Sports Centre; she served as Canada’s chef de mission at the 2000 Olympics.
And there’s more.
That ongoing presence in sports board rooms helped ease Jones Konihowski into a life away from competitive athletics.
I wouldn’t be satisfied going into a shot-put competition and throwing two metres less than I used to throw.
“That kept me involved in sport — kept me going to games, seeing the athletes. It feeds the soul,” says Jones Konihowski, who is 66. “It allowed me to gradually leave sport behind, which is what I did after the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. I didn’t run for the Canadian Olympic board, and I just said goodbye to sport. It was easy at that time.”
She expects Distress Centre Calgary to be her last stop before retirement. The centre offers free support and counselling to anybody who needs it. Its importance grows as Calgary’s rough economic times persist.
“We get calls from seniors who are isolated, haven’t seen or talked to anybody in two weeks, and they just want to talk to someone,” says Jones Konihowski. “We have a lot of veterans with PTSD, a lot of mental health issues, suicide-in-progress calls. Those numbers are going up all the time. Family troubles, relationships, domestic violence, sexual assault, bullying, depression, sadness, addictions. We deal with any issue, and our specialty is crisis intervention. We’re there to de-escalate the crisis, whatever it is, and make sure that caller, that chatter, that texter, is safe and can make it through the day, and the next 24 to 48 hours.”
She’s also deepened her contacts with Saskatoon by serving on the Huskie Athletics board of trustees at the University of Saskatchewan. The new governance model, struck up in the fall of 2016, includes a board made up of prominent U of S grads.
Jones Konihowski, who married CFL receiver John Konihowski in 1977, got in touch with her competitive side after retiring from athletics — but it was in beach volleyball, and not on the track. She played beach volleyball at the 2005 World Masters Games in Edmonton.
“If I was going to compete in anything else, it would be another sport,” she says. “I never wanted to go backwards in time; it just didn’t make sense to me. Beach volleyball was easy, because nobody could judge me. I was just there as a volleyball player. No pressure. But I wouldn’t be satisfied going into a shot-put competition and throwing two metres less than I used to throw. Why would I do that? I don’t need that in my life.”
She doesn’t play competitive beach volleyball anymore either, she says, and she laughs.
“We got a dog instead.”
Where Are They Now is a weekly feature updating our audience on newsmakers from the past. If you have a suggestion for a subject, please email citydesk@theleaderpost.com or call 306-781-5300. kemitchell@postmedia.com twitter.com/ kmitchsp