Australian hurdles champion will move to rowing

SYDNEY, April 27, 2012 (AFP) - Two-time 400m hurdles world champion Jana Pittman is aiming to represent Australia at the 2016 Rio Olympics as a rower, a report said Friday.

Pittmann, who won the 400m hurdles at the 2003 Paris world championships and four years later in Osaka, Japan, recently hung up her spikes after a foot injury ruined her plans to compete at this year's London Olympics.

The Sydney Daily Telegraph said the 29-year-old had taken up rowing instead and had been identified as a potential star of the sport by Rowing Australia.

"We have tested her and we know she has got a lot of the goods. I think the challenge for her, and for us, is to see if she can make the changes," Rowing Australia elite development manager Peter Shakespear told the newspaper.

"She has never done any rowing, so it is a bit like somebody who doesn't know how to walk becoming a 400m hurdler. What she brings across is a great athlete, a great attitude, a lot of passion and a lot of ready-made stuff."

The report said Pittman had taken advice from Kim Crow, a former hurdler who successfully switched to rowing and is now rated the best female rower in the country, and was aiming for Rio in 2016.

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