The Jana Pittman of the moment is challenging herself on SAS Australia, however, she has been a familiar face for quite some time now.
WATCH Jana Pittman Talks About Her Career Change From An Athlete To A Doctor
The athlete is best known for her efforts as a hurdler, particularly at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2004 Athens Olympics.
She won gold at the Melbourne and Manchester Commonwealth games, and also at the Osaka and Paris world championships.
Jana is also the only Australian athlete to compete at both the Summer and Winter Olympics, having competed in the two-woman bobsled at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia.
However, the athlete and now-doctor is most proud of her role as a mother.
“Whilst sport was my identity, my true passion lies elsewhere. I am now incredibly lucky to share my life with three little Gold medals, with my gorgeous children Cornelis, Emily, and Jemima,” Jana wrote on her website in 2017.
She now has four kids, having added baby Charles, who she gave birth to only months before going on SAS Australia, and only days before she completed her final medical exam.
Jana married her first husband, British hurdler Chris Rawlinson, in 2006.
Chris, who was also her coach, is the father of her eldest son, Cornelis.
The pair separated in 2009, but reconciled the following year, at which point they renewed their vows as a married couple.
However, they separated again the following year.
Jana, at this point a single mum, still had plenty ahead of her, including the 2014 winter Olympics and her medical degree.
However, she was keen to become a mother once more.
Her first daughter, Emily who was born in 2015, came to be through an anonymous sperm donor, as did her second daughter, Jemima.
Jana spoke about the decision to have children as a single mum on Sunrise in 2017.
“I didn’t want to go into a relationship knowing that I could end up in a divorce again and have a custody problem with kids,” she admitted.
After doing it for the first time, she wanted her kids to have another sibling, landing her as a single mum-of-three.
However, Jana would eventually marry again, this time to Sydney businessman, Paul Gatward.
Some months after their wedding, she welcomed Charlie.
“It’s gorgeous to watch how natural he is with Charlie,” Jana told Woman’s Day after the birth of her son.
“He already wants one more!” she divulged.
“For me, there’s no difference between having four and five kids, so maybe we will. I already drive a Kia Carnival, so we’re ready for it – and I always saw myself having five children, so I’ve already got my head around it,” Jana explained.
“I think my parents and my career want this to be my last pregnancy, but I wouldn’t rule out another.”
Charlie had an eventful birth, with Jana working right up until labour began. She had delivered four babies just 12 hours before he was born, a week early.
“It threw me a bit,” she admitted.
And although it seems impossible Jana could be any more motivated, she used her time in labour to study.
“They hooked me up to a baby monitor to measure my vitals in hospital and I studied during labour, before sitting the exam four days later,” Jana explained.
Dr Pittman holds a Master of Reproductive Medicine.
Charlie was only six months old when Jana left to film SAS Australia. She agreed to go on the show to challenge herself and learn what she was truly capable of.
“I said yes because it’s the hardest. It’s physical, but it’s also about mental tenacity,” she told WHO.
Jana’s post-pregnancy body proved another challenge, leading to difficulties with bladder control during the physical aspects of the course. However, she took the opportunity to normalise the issue.
“I just pissed myself on that run, so that was embarrassing,” she says during episode three.
“Not intentionally, but women at home need to know that after you have a baby you don’t have a good pelvic floor.”
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
