Jana Pittman: Athlete Turned Doctor – Her Life Story

Few Australian athletes have built a second act as surprising as Jana Pittman’s. The two-time world champion, who was also the first Australian woman to compete in both Summer and Winter Olympic Games (ABC News (Australian public broadcaster)), swapped hurdles for hospital wards and retrained as a doctor — now practising medicine in regional New South Wales, a comeback that makes other career changes look small.

Age: 43 (as of 2026) ·
Profession: Obstetrics and gynaecology doctor ·
Athletic highlights: Two-time world champion, four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist ·
Birth year: 1982 ·
Current location: Port Macquarie, Australia

Six facts, one pattern: the discipline that produced world titles is the same discipline that carried her through medical school.

Can you tell me the story of Jana Pittman?

Pittman was born in Sydney on 9 November 1982, according to Wikipedia. She came through the junior athletics ranks as a 400-metre hurdler, and the Sydney 2000 Olympics handed her a debut on home soil — the first of her two Summer Games, per Wikipedia.

Her peak arrived mid-decade. She became a two-time world champion (ABC News) and a four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist (Great Expectation) — a run that made her one of Australia’s most recognisable track athletes.

• 2000 — Olympic debut at the Sydney Games (Wikipedia)
• 2003 — World Championship gold in Paris (ABC News)
• 2006 — Commonwealth Games gold in Melbourne (Great Expectation)
• 2014 — Winter Olympics in bobsleigh, making her the first Australian woman to compete in both Summer and Winter Games (Great Expectation; ABC News)

Then came the reinvention. Pittman failed her first medical-school entrance exam and passed on her second attempt (ABC News), and by late 2021 she was working as a resident doctor at Blacktown Hospital (ABC News). The move to Port Macquarie followed, taking her clinical work to the NSW mid-north coast (Great Expectation). The pattern: each time Pittman chose the harder option — world-class hurdles, then an entirely new profession — the choice worked. Stubbornness, it turns out, was her real talent.

What kind of doctor is Jana Pittman?

Pittman is an obstetrician and gynaecologist. Her medical career started at Western Sydney University, where she graduated in 2019 with First Class Honours and a university medal, according to Great Expectation; the same profile lists a Master of Reproductive Medicine from the University of New South Wales.

In practice, that means she works across pregnancy, childbirth and reproductive health — a far cry from the track, but with the same intensity she once brought to the 400m hurdles.

What is Jana Pittman doing now?

That combination — clinical work plus public speaking — makes her an unusual figure in Australian medicine: a specialist who is also a recognisable face from the country’s sporting past. In a regional centre like Port Macquarie, that visibility has practical value for the local health service. The implication: Pittman’s medical career is the main event now, and her fame has become a tool for normalising second acts, not a relic of the first one.

Is Jana Pittman married now?

The short answer, based on the most recent coverage reviewed: reportedly not. The relationship status is the least settled part of her public record, and the gap between headlines and confirmed facts is wide.

Is Jana Pittman separated from her husband?

• 2025 coverage describes the couple as separated — flagged as unconfirmed in the sources reviewed.
• Pittman has described herself as a single mother in public conversations about her family (Australian Birth Stories).

Her first marriage, to English athlete and coach Chris Rawlinson, ended in 2011, according to Australian Birth Stories. Her second, to Paul Gatward, began in July 2020 (ABC News). If the separation reports are accurate, the pattern is painful but obvious: two marriages, two endings, each covered extensively by the press.

Is Jana Pittman still with Paul Gatward?

• No ongoing relationship is confirmed; the couple married in July 2020 (ABC News).
• The couple have a son, Charlie (Wikipedia).
• Gatward, a corporate lawyer, has largely stayed out of the public conversation (ABC News).

The privacy is exactly why the current status is so hard to pin down. No detailed public statement from either Pittman or Gatward was found in the sources reviewed.

Is Jana Pittman a single mum?

• Pittman has spoken openly about single motherhood after her first marriage ended (Australian Birth Stories).
• The same framing resurfaced in 2025 coverage of her reported separation.

The description fits the years she spent raising her two daughters without a partner. She conceived both girls using donor conception after her marriage to Rawlinson ended, according to Australian Birth Stories.

Does Jana Pittman have a partner?

• No current partner is confirmed in the sources reviewed.

That is a statement about the public record, not about her private life. Until Pittman introduces someone — or confirms a new relationship herself — the verified answer stays the same: no confirmed partner. The trade-off: celebrity made her personal life a media beat, but the reporting has run ahead of the facts. Treat every headline about her relationships as provisional.

The implication: Pittman’s personal life remains under media scrutiny, but the facts are sparse.

Who is the father of Jana Pittman’s children?

For her youngest child, the answer on paper is simple: Paul Gatward. The couple welcomed a son, Charlie, after their 2020 marriage (Wikipedia).

For the older two, the answer is different. Pittman has said she used donor conception after her first marriage ended (Australian Birth Stories).

How many husbands has Jana Pittman had?

• Two documented marriages: Chris Rawlinson (athlete) (Australian Birth Stories) and Paul Gatward (lawyer) (ABC News).
• Rawlinson marriage ended in 2011 (Australian Birth Stories); Gatward marriage began in July 2020 (ABC News).

So “two husbands” is accurate shorthand, with one asterisk: the legal status of the second marriage is not confirmed in the material reviewed.

Counting the children is where the record blurs: the sources reviewed document three children — two daughters via donor conception (Australian Birth Stories) and a son with Gatward (Wikipedia) — while some biographical summaries list fewer. What this means: “father” is not a single tidy answer, and the most careful versions of this story let Pittman control the detail.

How old is Jana Pittman?

Pittman was born on 9 November 1982, according to Wikipedia, which puts her at 43 as of early 2026.

How old are Jana Pittman’s children?

• Son Charlie — born in 2021, covered in ABC News reporting that year.
• Two older daughters — birth years not consistently documented; sources describe them as pre-teens or teenagers.

The podcast account confirms the daughters arrived after her earlier marriage ended (Australian Birth Stories). Exact dates, though, are the kind of detail Pittman has kept private — and the sources reviewed do not reconcile every version. The upshot: at 43, she is raising a family that spans early childhood to the teen years while running a medical career. “Retired athlete” stopped fitting a long time ago.

Where does Jana Pittman live now?

Pittman lives in Port Macquarie, on the New South Wales mid-north coast. Her Great Expectation profile lists the town as her base and describes her as an obstetrician and gynaecologist working there.

Profiles and interviews frame the move as a deliberate lifestyle shift — trading the pace of Sydney medicine for a community-centred practice in the Hastings region (Great Expectation). The pattern: Pittman keeps choosing the place where the work feels most useful, and Port Macquarie is where that instinct landed.

Jana Pittman timeline

Below is the chronological spine of Pittman’s two careers, with the family milestones that kept intersecting them.

• 1982 — Born in Sydney (Wikipedia)
• 2000 — Olympic debut at the Sydney Games (Wikipedia)
• 2003 — World Championship gold in Paris (ABC News)
• 2006 — Commonwealth Games gold in Melbourne (Great Expectation)
• 2011 — Marriage to Chris Rawlinson ends (Australian Birth Stories)
• 2013 — Enrols in medicine at Western Sydney University (Wikipedia)
• 2014 — Competes in bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics (Great Expectation)
• 2019 — Graduates in medicine with First Class Honours (Great Expectation)
• 2020 — Marries Paul Gatward (ABC News)
• 2021 — Resident doctor at Blacktown Hospital; son Charlie born (ABC News)
• 2025 — Based in Port Macquarie, continuing medical practice (Great Expectation); reported as separated (unconfirmed)

What’s confirmed — and what’s not

Confirmed by reliable reporting

• Born in Sydney on 9 November 1982 (Wikipedia)
• Two-time world champion in the 400m hurdles (ABC News)
• First Australian woman to compete in both Summer and Winter Olympic Games (ABC News)
• Graduated as a doctor in 2019 with First Class Honours (Great Expectation)
• Married Paul Gatward in July 2020; they have a son, Charlie (ABC News; Wikipedia)

Unconfirmed or inconsistent

• Exact current relationship status with Paul Gatward (reported separated; no formal confirmation found)
• Total number of children — three documented here, some profiles vary
• Exact birth years of the older daughters
• Number of marriages — documented as two, not fully verified in every source
• Net worth and book plans — no confirmed figures
• Some profiles list a 2008 Olympic appearance; the sources reviewed document 2000, 2004 and 2014

The pattern: reliable sources confirm the key career facts, while personal details are harder to verify.

Jana Pittman: key voices

Three sources carry most of the weight in Pittman’s public record: a national broadcaster, her own podcast interview, and her professional speaker biography.

Pittman failed her first medical-school entrance exam and succeeded on her second attempt.

— ABC News, 2021

After her first marriage ended, Pittman had two daughters using donor conception.

— Australian Birth Stories, Pittman’s own account

She completed her medical degree with First Class Honours and a university medal.

— Great Expectation, speaker biography

The takeaway: these three sources form the backbone of her public record.

The takeaway

Pittman’s story keeps circling one idea: failure was a prerequisite. She failed the medical exam before she passed it (ABC News), lost a marriage before building another family (Australian Birth Stories), and left the sport that made her famous to start a profession that tested her differently. For anyone contemplating a second career after a public setback, the calculation is simple — expect to fail the first time, apply again anyway, and let the work speak. For Australian sport, the consequence is just as clear: her example changes what a retired athlete is allowed to become.

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