Jana Pittman’s sad reality: ‘I lost the Olympics, babies and marriages’

Now a doctor in a Sydney Covid hot zone battlefront, former Olympian Jana Pittman has made a brutally frank admission before taking one of her biggest challenges yet.

Mother of four Jana Pittman has been described as a lioness ahead of taking on one of her toughest challenges yet.

British former Special Forces officer Ant Middleton has tipped the dual Summer and Winter Olympic Games athlete as a top contender in a new promo for the controversial reality TV show.

Jana Pittman appearing on the new season of SAS Australia, which will premiere in September.

“I think I am tough but I had a baby six months ago,” Pittman, 38, said in the new TV ad. “This course is going to test me beyond anything I have ever done.

Pittman, alongside Usain Bolt, is one of just nine athletes to win world championships at the youth, junior and senior levels of an athletic event.

Jana Pittman in Sydney. Picture: Richard Dobson

Now working as a doctor in the emergency department of Sydney’s Blacktown Hospital, she also won the 2003 and 2007 world titles in the 400m hurdle event and competed at both the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

Pittman won four Commonwealth Games gold medals across the Manchester and Melbourne games and also competed at the Winter Olympics in the two-woman bobsleigh at the 2014 Sochi games.

“I lost the Olympics, I’ve lost babies, I’ve lost marriages,” she said. “I want to make my beautiful children proud. One of my fears is I don’t like to fail. I hope I have got what it takes.”

SAS Australia sees celebrities put through their paces in a gruelling elite military course.

Of Pittman, Middleton, who is chief instructor on the course, said: “Whatever fire you have ignited within you, if you keep that, you will be here at the end of the course.”

Other contestants on the series that premieres next month include Erin Holland, Alicia Molik, Kerrie Potharst, Mark Philippoussis and Bonnie Anderson.

An Instagram post by former Australian athlete Jana Pittman, who nows works at Blacktown Hospital. Source: Instagram

Jana Pittman appearing on the new season of SAS Australia.

Pittman recenly spoke to The Daily Telegraph of her work on the medical frontline as Sydney continues to battle Covid.

“I have always wanted to be a doctor so to be a part of something that is globally so massive is a real honour,” she said.

“I loved competing for Australia but it is the polar opposite. In the Olympics, yes you are representing your country but it is a very personal, almost like you are the star of the show kind of thing, whereas in medicine it is all about the patient.

“Especially when we are gowned up, they would have absolutely no idea who the doctor is standing in front of them because they can’t see anything other than your eyes.”