SPORTSLINE (06/09/96)

SPORTSLINE

Women sail in second

The SPA Regatta held in Medemblink, the Netherlands, concluded on May 26. Skipper Ruslana Taran and crew member Olena Paholchyk placed second in the women's division of the 470 class. The event was won by the World Championship team of Zabell and Dufresne of Spain. The other Ukrainian boat, crewed by V. Krav-chun and N. Hapanovich, placed 11th. In the men's division, Ihor Matvienko and Yevhen Braslavets placed sixth, while the team of A. Overchuk and V. Honcharov placed 31st.

Hall-of-famer dies

John Shaley, one of the two first Cana-dians of Ukrainian descent to be inducted into a sports hall of fame for work with a Ukrainian community sports club, passed away in Winnipeg on March 11. The Winnipeg policeman and later a member of the Winnipeg Hydro Credit Department was a lifelong community and amateur sports activist.

John Shaley was born in Winnipeg on May 13, 1908. In the spring of 1926 he joined the first team fielded by the fledgling Canadian Ukrainian Athletic Club (CUAC). Mr. Shaley pitched for the CUAC Blues for 14 years.

In 1941, Mr. Shaley was appointed coach of the CUAC senior girls softball team. He helped guide the team to three Manitoba championships. In 1949, the team was reorganized and Mr. Shaley was appointed its manager. He held that position through 1973 when the local senior baseball league folded. During Mr. Shaley's tenure at the helm, the club won the 1953 Mani-toba championship and then ran up an un-precedented string of 17 consecutive pro-vincial titles between 1957 and 1973. In 1957, the Blues won the Western Canadian Championship, the first team from Mani-toba to attain the honor. In 1965, the team won the inaugural Canadian Championship.

Mr. Shaley also served as president of the Canadian Ukrainian Athletic Club in the years 1943-1945, 1957-1964 and 1967 to the time of his death.

In 1991, Mr. Shaley and his brother Stan were inducted into the Softball Canada Hall of Fame for their work with CUAC. The following year, the Shaleys and the 1965 CUAC Blues were inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. John Shaley was honored that year also as the Manitoba Ukrainian Sportsman of the Year.

Ukrainian Olympic site on WWW

Media Watch Ukraine, in conjunction with the Sports Commission of the Ukrainian World Congress, is assisting the media bureau of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine in the dissemination of information about Ukraine's participation in the 1996 Olympic Games.

One of the vehicles of this effort is the establishment of a World Wide Web site that is to be activated in early June. The site will feature profiles of athletes, lists of medal winners, a photo gallery, what's new, sports and Olympic trivia, Ukrainian Olympic philately, a link to the Carroll County homepage (site of the Ukrainian pre-Olympic acclimatization training), etc. The World Wide Web site will be continuously developed right through the conclusion of the 1996 Olympic Games.

The site's location will be: http://www.mwukr.ca/olympics.htm/.

Coaches winning skating team

Cathy Mackowski, coach of the Kitchener-Waterloo Kweens on Ice precision skating team, guided her squad to the gold medal at the Canadian Championship held April 4-7 at Hamilton's Copps Coliseum. Skating to music from the movie "Henry V," the team of 24 skaters (and two alternates) held on to first place in the freestyle program despite a fall by one of its members. It was the first national title for the team, this year made up of girls age 15-21.

Ms. Mackowski (nee Ostapchuk) was a member of Canada's figure skating team in 1975. Upon retiring from competitive skating, she became a professional coach. In the early 1980s, Ms. Mackowski became involved in coaching precision skating in Kitchener-Waterloo. In 1988, her team was invited to participate in the closing ceremonies of the Calgary Olympics. As a result, Ms. Mackowski assisted with the training and choreography of the skating portion of the closing ceremonies.

Football great passes away

Steve Oneschuk, a Canadian football great, passed away on April 20 in Hamilton, Ontario. Born in St. Catharines in 1930, Mr. Oneschuk was a versatile athlete, playing basketball, football and lacrosse.

Mr. Oneschuk attended the University of Toronto (1951-1954), where he earned a degree in physical education and competed on the school's basketball and football teams. In 1951, Mr. Oneschuk led the Ontario intercollegiate football league in rushing with 385 yards, an average of 6.4 yards per carry. His play was recognized when he was named to the Ontario All-Star team. It was the first of his four consecutive appearances on the all-star team.

In 1951, Mr. Oneschuk was also named to the Second All-Eastern Canadian Press Team. He was the only university player selected. During the winter months, Mr. Oneschuk played basketball for the university and for the Trident Ukrainian Sports Club.

Mr. Oneschuk moved to Hamilton in 1955 to pursue a teaching career and to play football with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He was with the team from 1955 to 1960. He was used as a corner linebacker, fullback and kicker. In 1956, Mr. Oneschuk was named captain of the Tiger-Cats. In 1957, he led the team in scoring with 60 points; he added 18 points in the playoffs and two in the Grey Cup game [which the Tiger-Cats won.]

During his career, Mr. Oneschuk was recognized as one of the best Canadian players in the league. The Toronto Globe and Mail recognized him with five consecutive selections to the Eastern Canadian All-Star team. In 1961, he coached the Tiger-Cats backfield.

- UWC Sports Commission

A poorer Mr. Medvedev

Although Ukraine's Andrei Medvedev is slipping in the world rankings, he's nevertheless maintaining an impressive 15th in the world. In the money column, however, he's not doing anywhere near as well as he should.

As of May 12, the hapless Mr. Medvedev was 43rd on the earners list, checking in with $169,000 (U.S.) in take-home pay. In fact, unfairness seems to be built into the system. Martin Damm of the Czech Republic, ranked 83rd on the tour, made $170,390 - one ahead of the recalcitrant Kyivan on the money list.

Other injustices: World No. 6 Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia (the tour's money leader) earned $921,006, a full $387,000 more than the $533,936 earned by No. 1 Pete Sampras of the U.S. Canada's lowly Daniel Nestor, not even in the top 100, made $186,565, 36th on the chart.

Larysa Savchenko-Nieland, the Ukrainian-born star who plays out of Latvia, was much better at parlaying her talents into talents (so to speak). The 83rd ranked player in terms of tournament play made $113,511, or 16th on the tour.

These statistics are seemingly another demonstration that ability has only an oblique relationship to one's capacity to earn green stuff. However, the more obvious connection is that those who live in the U.S. or in Europe are much more likely to be making the big bucks, by virtue of access to lucrative tournaments.

Such a context makes Mr. Medvedev's increasing frustration at being based in Uk-raine somewhat understandable, if not easier to empathize with. This year, Ukraine hosts no ATP tournaments. Russia (for whom Mr. Medvedev wished to play in the Olympics, but was thwarted by the ATP) hosts two tournaments: one in spring, in St. Petersburg, the other in the fall in Moscow.

- Andrij Wynnyckyj

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