NWT athlete dominates games

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In sports where championships are usually decided by inches and centimetres, Jonathan Kurszewski sets his competitors on their ears. At the North American Indigenous Games earlier this month, the 17-year-old Metis track and field athlete from Fort Smith, N.W.T., won by feet and metres in the shot put, discus and javelin throws.

Kurszewski, the only track athlete from the N.W.T., was entered in the junior men's sections of the three throwing competitions. The margin of victory reflects his national ranking ? in the top three of each event, Canada-wide, in his age group.

In the shot put, Kurszewski managed a put of 14.67 metres. That was fully 95 centimetres more than the second best put, 13.72 m by 19-year-old Travis Azure of North Dakota. Frankie Park, 16, from Saskatchewan, took the bronze with a showing of 12.76 m.

In the javelin throw, Kurszewski hurled his into the next country, scoring 54.32 m on his best throw. Eighteen-year-old Nathan Nelson, from Saskatchewan, finished the competition with the silver based on a credible throw of 42.12 m. Alberta's Lyle Badger, also 18, managed 37.72 m to take the bronze medal.

In the discus throw, Kurszewski's margin of victory was even greater; his toss of 49.34 m was more than 13 m greater than the 36.06 m recorded by 18-year-old Otis Anderson of Oklahoma. John Struthers of the host sate was the bronze-medal winner of 33.44 m.

"I'm aiming for the 2000 Olympics in Australia," said the young man before his winning javelin performance. "I hope to still be competing in all three events, if I can at that level. I don't plan on giving one up, but the standards are very high to get there."

Kurszewski is finishing grade 12 at P.W. Kaeser High School in Fort Smith. He won the Northwest Territories championships in all three events, but said that there's not that much competition in the North. He planned on attending one more meet in 1995: the Western Canada Summer Games in Abbotsford, B.C.

"I've been to the nationals the past two years," he said. " I want to keep my options open, and I hope to impress and get offered an athletic scholarship which will allow me to go to school.

The confident young athlete plays hockey in the winter, and says his secrets are to live well and practice enough and regularly. The North American Indigenous Games in Minnesota were the largest competition (in terms of athletes there) that he'd seen.

"My dad came down with me. He comes with me to most events," Kurszewski said. His father was a competitor in the javelin. "He's also my coach. It makes me feel more comfortable when he's there, too."