Pittman and Rawlinson are engaged
Friday 19 November 2004
World 400m Hurdles champion Jana Pittman of Australia yesterday announced her engagement to marry British Olympian Chris Rawlinson. The couple plan to marry sometime after the next Commonwealth Games which are schedule in Melbourne in 2006.
Rawlinson and Pittman met on the IAAF circuit in Europe and were drawn closer when he helped comfort her after she required knee surgery after this year’s Weltklasse Golden League meeting in Zurich.
The couple are aware of the genetic gifts each may bestow on any offspring of their union, with Rawlinson joking: “The biggest question will be whether our child runs under the British or Australian flag.”
Pittman will fly to Britain on December 12 to spend a month there with Rawlinson. At this stage the plan is for her to return to Melbourne on her own in mid-January to resume training, while Rawlinson heads to the US for training.
Pittman and Rawlinson were an item in the Olympic athletes’ village in Athens where she faded from first to fifth in the homestraight in the final, while he smashed into the first barrier injurying his knee in his semi-final.
Rawlinson was “really sweet” during her traumatic final preparation for the Olympics, Pittman said: “He even painted my nails with the Australian colours when I couldn’t.”