Jackie Epstein
February 03, 2008 12:00am
A FLUSTERED Jana Pittman declared her intentions after the 400m hurdles final in Athens four years ago.
“Beijing is my Olympics, nobody is ever going to take that (gold medal) away from me again. That’s the way it is,” she said.
The reference was pointed. An untimely knee injury on the eve of the 2004 Olympics marred her campaign and created a circus.
Pride in managing to race was countered by the stinging disappointment of finishing fifth.
Now Jana Rawlinson, the wife, mother and supreme athlete, is ready to deliver.
If she can dodge the “landmines” this preparation, she expects to achieve her goal.
This week, the dual world champion will visit Beijing for a photo shoot with sponsor adidas.
“It’s the kind of thing you dream of when you’re a kid,” Rawlinson said.
"World champs are great to win, but Olympics is the ultimate.
"I can’t wait to get there and see it. I’m nervous as well. It’s all I think about every day. If I had any more motivation I’d explode.
"The way I’ll win the Olympics is if I prepare well on the track.
"I’m quite bulletproof when it comes to mental capacity and racing.
"I’m not very good off the track. I can be a little bit emotional and sometimes get very nervous.
“But as soon as I’m in the cool room I don’t even think any more. It’s a job to start doing.”
Rawlinson is hoping it is a case of third time lucky. In 2000, she failed to make the final, so reaching it in 2004 was an improvement.
Winning form is good form and Rawlinson carries plenty of that.
Recently she won in a polluted arena in Shanghai and was unaffected by the conditions. Similarly, she does not anticipate the smog of Beijing causing her problems.
A minor toe operation at the start of the year means she will miss the Australian season of racing.
But in terms of setbacks it is not debilitating. It was a lingering injury that needed to be addressed.
She was running near career-best times before the operation and will return to full pace next week.
Husband and coach Chris Rawlinson is confident about his wife’s prospects.
“The times she was doing before she had the operation on the toe were absolutely phenomenal,” Chris said.
"I wasn’t around in '04, but she told me the times she’s running now are far superior to then.
"She seems a bit more relaxed and focused, because back then it was everything. Now she’s had a child, she’s refocused and more relaxed.
"She’s doing everything she can do. I think if anything the last year has given her confidence.
“She took 10 weeks out with her wisdom teeth and the baby. She knows if she puts in the hard work it will happen for her.”
Rawlinson juggles 30-40 hours training a week. She has a gym set up in her home and has a training partner out here from Ireland.
Son Cornelis turned one in December and caring for him has become her top priority. He will join her in Japan before the Games and then Rawlinson’s mother-in-law will take him to London while she conducts her hit-and-run mission.
“I’d never take him to Beijing, not at the stage he’s at where everything goes in his mouth,” Rawlinson said.
"I’d be scared he’ll lean over and drink out of puddles and I’d be worried he’d get really sick.
"Athletics is incredibly important to me, but his health comes first. If he gets sick I’d stop running to look after him and I can’t afford that possibility.
"Chris made a good point. He said, ‘If Cor is not going to spend the time with you, we’ll make this time away from him worthwhile. So come back with a gold medal around your neck. Then you can say to Cor that mummy was away from you, but she did the business and she did it for you.’
“Hopefully, this year he’ll understand when I say that. I know it’ll be hard on both of us and I’m already fretting a bit because he’s a real mummy’s boy at the moment.”
Rawlinson plans to compete in eight races in Europe before Beijing.
While she is confident about her prospects, she does not feel that the burden of the nation’s expectations are on her shoulders alone.
Pole vaulter Steve Hooker cleared six metres last week and Craig Mottram is running personal-best times. Then there are the several well-performed walkers as well as the field hopefuls.
“Initially, I thought in 2003 at the world champs I was the only one who was a real medal contender,” Rawlinson said.
"Now you’ve got Nathan Deakes, Jane Saville - she won a medal in Athens - and both pole vaulters going well.
"Bronny (Bronwyn Thompson) in the long jump got fourth in the Athens Olympics, so she’s really pushing it.
“There are so many of us so I really just feel like I’m one of a group rather than a standout in that regard.”
RAWLINSON will not have it all her own way. American hurdler Lashinda Demus is returning after giving birth to twins and has talked up her ambition of breaking the world record. And several of the Chinese runners should not be discounted at home.
“In winning the worlds it does put you in a pretty good position for this year. But if you look back through the records, in the Athens Olympics only four athletes retained their title from the year before,” Rawlinson said. "It doesn’t really mean anything if you’re a world champion.
"It depends on injuries, depends on your goals and depends on who else is going to come out of the woodwork. At this stage, I’d say I’m a very strong contender.
“One of my other competitors had twins a year ago and got a silver medal in 2005 and she beat me a few times that year. She’s having a comeback and I wouldn’t ever say that anyone’s not going to have one after I’ve had one.”
If results go her way, Rawlinson may consider retirement. But given her husband is British, the appeal of competing in London 2012 is enormous.
After her race in Athens, Rawlinson’s idol, Debbie Flintoff-King, gave her some words of advice.
The 400m hurdles gold medallist at the 1988 Seoul Olympics urged the girl who is like a daughter to her to use the Athens experience as a spur, just the way she did in her career.
“I got sixth at the (1984) Olympics and she got fifth (in 2004), and at the next Olympics I won,” Flintoff-King said. “Maybe she can win in Beijing and break the world record.”