Jana Rawlinson

Jana Rawlinson (born November 9, 1982 in Sydney as Jana Pittman) is an Australian athlete who specialises in the 400 m run and 400 m hurdles events. She is a two-time world champion in the 400 m hurdles, from 2003 and 2007. She also won the gold medal in this event at the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games and was part of Australia's winning 4 x 400 m relay teams at both events.

Early career

Rawlinson attended Matthew Pearce Primary School and Mount Saint Benedict College in North Western Sydney. She is second cousin to diver Melissa Wu. [ [http://www.abc.net.au/olympics/2008/sports/diving/team.htm ABC Beijing 2008 preview - Diving] ]

Rawlinson, who competed until April 2006 under her maiden name Pittman, won the 400 m hurdles at the 1999 World Youth Championships in Athletics in Bydgoszcz and became treble champion in 200 m, 400 m and 400 m hurdles at the national championships of that year. In 2000, she became the first woman ever to win the 400 m flat and hurdles double at any IAAF or IOC championships - in this case, the 2000 World Junior Championships in Santiago (Chile).

Knee injury

Just before the Athens Olympics, Jana Pittman tore her cartilage in her right knee during a warm-up for a track meet in Zurich. Pittman was favourite to win the 400 m hurdles event. After undergoing surgery in London only one week before the start of the games, she ran 5th in the Final. [http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2004/s1171840.htm 3] .

=Negative public

On 10 March 2006, quoted in an article in "The Sydney Morning Herald", she announced her intention to leave Australia, possibly for the UK, after the negative publicity surrounding her knee and her disagreement with fellow athlete Tamsyn Lewis: "Since Athens, my image is all about drama and I hate it." Jana said there had been a "mixed" response from the Australian public since the media dubbed their rivalry a "catfight" and a "bitchfight".

Jana Pittman related that when she had been walking down the street a week earlier, a group of men in a car yelled out, "We love you, Tamsyn, we hate you, Pitts". "I didn't create that", the 400 m hurdler was quoted as saying. "I didn't want that". She also referenced the current edition of "Ralph" magazine at the time, in which Lewis posed in a bikini and which carried the tag line on the cover, "It's alright Tam, we don't like Jana Pittman either".

In the buildup to her races at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Jana Pittman was widely reported as being nervous about the possible crowd reaction in the wake of the negative publicity detailed above. However, the ovation of the home crowd was loud and long, both before and after the 400 m hurdles Final, and in interviews afterwards Pittman expressed her feelings of relief. The crowd response was strikingly different at a nightclub hosting post-games celebrations, where after an introduction she was booed off stage [http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,18612048%255E2862,00.html 4] .

2006 Commonwealth Games

At the Melbourne Commonwealth Games Jana Pittman successfully defended her two Commonwealth titles.

4 x 400 m Relay

As at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, Jana Pittman was a member of Australia's gold medal-winning 4 x 400 m relay team (with Lewis, Caitlin Willis and Rosemary Hayward). However, the 2006 Aussie team was awarded the gold medal after the disqualification of the England team for a baton-change violation [http://www.melbourne2006.com.au/M2006/Homepage+News/200603254x400relay.htm 5] .

She later wrote a letter of apology to the English team and offered her gold medal to them. Jana Pittman blamed the disqualification of England on Lewis who, alongside Pittman, went up to the officials after the race to point out the violation of Englishwoman Natasha Danvers-Smith of taking an incorrect position on the starting leg. [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/04/03/1143916415460.html?from=top5 6] . According to the ABC Sports Desk [http://www.abc.net.au/sport/thesportsdesk/posts/s1606775.htm 7] , the officials were moving to disqualify England anyway. England head coach, Brad McStravick, in an interview with the ABC TV Program Offsiders, questioned Jana's motivation for writing the letter: "I know she is going to spend, well, at least half the year in England and I think some of the girls wondered whether it was just to try and make peace, so that she wouldn't face any animosity once she was living and training in England," he said [http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,18689673%255E12428,00.html 8] .

400 m Hurdles

Jana Pittman won the 400m hurdles title with a new Games Record time of 53.82 seconds. This was her first major championship in the event since her 2004 knee injury and subsequent stress fractures in her back.

Marriage to Chris Rawlinson

On 31 March 2006, Jana Pittman married Chris Rawlinson at Morningstar Estate on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria and became Jana Rawlinson. Chris Rawlinson, also a specialist 400 m hurdler, has been Jana's personal coach since 2004.

On 14 December 2006 Jana Rawlinson gave birth to the couple's first child, son Cornelis Levi. She later stated that she had gone for a hard twenty-minute run on the morning of the birth and 'felt like a whale'.

Osaka 2007

After delivering Cornelis, Rawlinson had her wisdom teeth removed and a 10-week injury break with plantar fascitis. Despite these hurdles, Rawlinson ran well on the European circuit and comfortably won the 400m Hurdles at the Osaka World Championships.

She carried a slight injury through her 2007 season, having surgery later in the year to remove loose cartilage and floating bone fragments in the second toe of her right foot.

Rawlinson was pre-selected for the 2008 Australian Olympic team in late 2007.

Beijing 2008

In January 2008, Rawlinson was nominated for 'Comeback of the Year' at the Laureus World Sports Awards.

In February 2008, Rawlinson was quoted as saying she could visualise her win at the Beijing Olympics and that she would run a world record time.

On 9 July 2008, Rawlinson announced she would not be competing at the Beijing Games, because of the complications with the toe injury. [ [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/07/10/1215282984282.html "Athletics Australia rallies behind Rawlinson"] , "The Age", July 10, 2008] "The Australian" subsequently reported that a large number of Australians had "viciously turned against the fallen track star", strongly criticising her. [ [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/beijing_olympics/story/0,27313,24002982-5014197,00.html "Australia turns on Jana Rawlinson as she pulls out of Olympics"] , "The Australian", July 11, 2008]

References

External links

* [http://www.athletics.com.au/fanzone/athleteprofiles/jana_rawlinson Athletics Australia profile]
* [http://usuarios.lycos.es/biloska/Jana_Rawlinson.htm Jana Rawlinson Pictures]
* [http://www.geocities.com/geetee/bios/prof_jana.html Awards and Biography]
* [http://www.smh.com.au/news/athletics/pittman-to-quit-australia/2006/03/10/1141701696380.html SMH - Pittman to quit Australia]
* [http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,18419311%255E39875,00.html Herald Sun - Jana takes drama abroad]
* [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18583429%255E5002980,00.html The Australian - Queen of Hearts]
* [http://www.melbourne2006.com.au/M2006/Homepage+News/200603254x400relay.htm Melbourne 2006 Official Site, final day Athletics news]
* [http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,18612048%255E2862,00.html Herald Sun - Club turns on Pittman]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/sport/thesportsdesk/posts/s1605723.htm ABC: The Sports Desk - 'Blushing Bride'.]
* [http://news.theage.com.au/six-aussie-nominations-for-sports-gongs/20080124-1nyn.html The Age - 6 Aussie nominations for sports gongs]
* [http://www.iaaf.org/news/Kind=2/newsId=42930.html IAAF Diaries: Jana Rawlinson]
* [http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/jana-visualises-elusive-olympic-gold/2008/02/14/1202760494890.html SMH - It's all in her mind]
* [http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23183214-14822,00.html Japan looms as ideal base for Jana]