Jana Rawlinson

Jana Rawlinson is one of those rare athletes whose senior career actually lives up to the level of success she attained as a junior competitor. Born as Jana Pittman, Rawlinson’s first national medal was won over 200m hurdles all the way back in Australian summer of 1996.

On the international scene, Rawlinson made her first major championship a memorable one, winning the 400m hurdles at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The following year, Rawlinson began breaking into the senior ranks. In her hometown at the Sydney Olympics, the eighteen year old Rawlinson made it as far as the quarterfinals of the 400m dash, and ran the third leg of the 4x400m relay in the heats to establish a then-national record. Just two weeks later, Rawlinson became the first athlete, male or female, to capture double golds in the 400m flat and the 400m hurdles at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Santiago, Chile.

Injuries forced Rawlinson to forgo her European racing season and the World Championships in 2001, she returned to full competition the following year. She captured her first senior international gold at the Manchester Commonwealth Games, winning the 400m hurdles, and then won a bronze medal at the IAAF World Cup in Spain.

While she ended the previous year as the world’s second fastest intermediate hurdler, 2003 was to be Rawlinson’s first banner year. She smashed her personal best, clocking 53.22sec and in doing so won her first world title at the IAAF World Championships in Paris, becoming the youngest 400m hurdler (male or female) to win the title.

Despite her 2003 success, the following years were less than perfect for Rawlinson. A knee injury in 2004 limited her to a fifth place finish at the Athens Olympics. In 2005, she suffered a stress fracture in her back and withdrew from the World Championships.

It was March 2006 that proved to be the turning point for Rawlinson, both professionally and personally. Returning to her first international championship in two years, she successfully defended her Commonwealth gold medal at Melbourne Cricket Grounds. Later that month, she married her coach and fellow intermediate hurdler, Chris Rawlinson of England. The couple welcomed their first child, Cornelius Levi, the following December.

Despite having given birth the previous winter, Rawlinson found herself back in competition the following May. Leading up to the IAAF World Championships, Rawlinson won six of seven races and established herself as a likely candidate to recapture her world title. She did not disappoint. Running the second fastest time of her career, Rawlinson was a clear victor in Osaka and capped off an impressive return from injuries and pregnancy to the top of the medal stand. It’s a tide that she hopes to continue to ride all the way to Beijing.