With 500 days until the London Olympic Games, one of Australia’s most successful athletes and dual Olympian Jana Rawlinson (nee Pittman) is less than three weeks away from making her return to competition.
It will be the first time Rawlinson has competed in Australia since winning the 400m hurdles at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
With 500 days until the London Olympic Games, one of Australia’s most successful athletes and dual Olympian Jana Rawlinson (nee Pittman) is less than three weeks away from making her return to competition.
It will be the first time Rawlinson has competed in Australia since winning the 400m hurdles at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Australian Head Coach and High Performance Manager Eric Hollingsworth confirmed at an AOC Team Processing session today at the MCG that the Australian Athletics Tour final in Perth is the competition the 2003 and 2007 world champion is targeting.
“Jana coming back is good news for us, Hollingsworth said. “She will compete in Perth on the 1st and 2nd of April which will be a little bit of a mini-comeback if you like.
“All the training and all the signs are fantastic around Jana getting back to top shape.”
Rawlinson will look to post a qualifying time and win the national championships in Melbourne next month to secure selection for the 2009 World Championships in Daegu in August.
After contesting the heats of the 400m hurdles and the 4x400m relay as a teenager in 2000 Rawlinson went on to win a Commonwealth Games gold in 2002 and world title in 2003. A knee injury heavily interrupted her Olympic campaign in 2004 yet she still managed to place fifth in Athens only weeks after surgery.
Remarkably in 2007 she defended her world title in Osaka just eight months after giving birth to her first child. Injury ruled her out of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and since then the headlines have only been about further injury and personal drama.
Hollingsworth, who has coached in Australia for over 15 years and calls London his hometown, is buoyed by the prospect of having Rawlinson back to join the number of Australian world class competitors who are all targeting London 2012.
Obvious medal prospects include Steve Hooker (pole vault Olympic and world champion), Dani Samuels (discus world champion), Sally Pearson (100m hurdles Olympic and world medallist), Jared Tallent (20km and 50km walking Olympic medallist) and the men’s 4x400m relay team.
“We are expecting a large team (for London) with four relays and 25 to 30 A qualifiers which will be a really strong team for us,” Hollingsworth said.
Andrew Reid
AOC
