‘Extraordinary’: Jana Pittman to detail life after sport in uplifting Zango event next week

While she officially retired from her athletics career in 2012, things never really slowed down for former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Jana Pittman.

Today, Jana is not only a doctor at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Randwick, she’s also mum to six kids, including a set of 18-month-old twins.

Add to that the fact she’s currently starring on Network Ten’s The Amazing Race with son Cornelis, and has four speaking gigs across Australia in the next seven days, and most people would be paralysed with overwhelm.

It’s a shock then, that Jana stays calm when talking about her schedule.

“It’s nuts,” she laughs.

“There’s never a dull moment. I do say that I’m in ‘surviving not thriving mode’ but I remind myself that it’s only temporary.

“A huge amount of work goes into preparing my months in advance – work commitments, parenting commitments, organising au pairs and nannies – but I do the preparation, know it’s done, and don’t stress about it again.

“The biggest skill I’ve learnt is not to sweat the small stuff. I could lose so much of my potential to stress and rumination, but I’m regularly telling my brain not to do that.”

Time management is just one of the themes of Jana’s presentation to Canberra’s real estate industry next week thanks to Zango.

The first Australian female to compete at both the summer and winter Olympic Games, Jana will be on stage at the National Gallery as part of our Zango presents series, a suite of events designed to inspire, uplift and motivate the property industry. Previous speakers have included entrepreneur and economist Mark Bouris (2022) and Olympic cyclist Anna Meares (earlier this year).

It’s the first time Jana has ever presented in Canberra, but as a former resident, she knows the capital well. Jana lived in Belconnen and Barton while training at the AIS, and later moved to Bungendore.

She’s excited to talk about mindset and adapting to change with Canberrans.

“After I was a runner and a hurdler I transitioned to a new sport – bobsleigh – and I talk about what that felt like to move from individual performance to being part of a team,” she says.

“There’s also a great story around fear. I had a race against Cathy Freeman, and I’d talked myself into a terrible, terrible place that I just couldn’t get out of.

“No matter how successful you are, you need to get over that inner voice. Everyone has the fear of failure.”

Resilience is a big part of what she wants to share next week.

“I love inspiring people to reinvent disappointment as fuel for success,” Jana says.

“There was a turning point in my life. I’d lost three Olympic Games due to injury but what that did was ignite my desire to be a doctor.

“I was 30 when my career was over. I was living with my parents, a single mum, and starting medical school just seemed like the dumbest thing to take on.

“But it was an opportunity to rewrite my future.

“I would never have been a doctor if I’d have won at the Olympic Games. What I do now is extraordinary.”

Zango general manager Karen Ligdopoulos describes the opportunity to present a third world-class speaker in Canberra as “an absolute thrill”.

“We’re committed to inspiring agents across every aspect of their work,” Karen says.

“I think it’s fair to say the Mark Bouris and Anna Meares events were unforgettable, and I’m thrilled we get to bring Jana to Canberra for the first time ever. What an absolute privilege.”