DUAL Olympian and doctor Jana Pittman has proudly declared Port Macquarie is her new home, telling a packed Town Green audience on Monday that she and her six children have found both belonging and community on the Mid North Coast.
The 43-year-old former world champion athlete, turned obstetrics and gynaecology doctor, was the keynote speaker at the 2026 Port Macquarie Hastings Citizen of the Year Awards, where she revealed she had bought a home in the region a day earlier.
“Well, I think I’ve actually found another chapter, guys,” Dr Pittman said.
“Because yesterday I bought a house in Port Macquarie, so this is now home.
“I love this community.
“I just want to thank you for the amazing six months that I’ve already had here and how much you advocated for me, but also made me feel at home with my six kids.”
She said relocating from Sydney had been a big decision, particularly with family ties and media commitments still centred in the city, but described the welcome she had received locally as overwhelming.
“Stopping me in the street, giving me tips on where to eat, where to go, looking after my kids in the shopping centre when they’re all throwing tantrums and I’m trying to buy something – you have a really special place here,” she said.
Widely regarded as one of Australia’s most versatile elite athletes, Dr Pittman was a 400-metre hurdles world champion and later became the first Australian woman to compete at both Summer and Winter Olympic Games, representing the nation in athletics in 2000 and 2004 and in bobsleigh at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
After retiring from elite sport, she undertook a medical degree, graduating in 2019 while raising her children, and now works locally as an obstetrics and gynaecology registrar and women’s health advocate.
Asked what community meant to her, Dr Pittman spoke candidly about Australia Day and the evolving national conversation around it.
“Australia Day is a complicated day, we know that,” she said.
“This country is phenomenal and the opportunities and community it provides are extraordinary.
“Particularly here in Port Macquarie, I’ve noticed how much that community is evolving and growing to include others, which is amazing.
“That’s what this day is about.”
She said her experiences representing the green and gold on the world stage had reinforced just how fortunate Australians are.
“I’ve probably been to more countries than most, and every time I come home I realise how lucky we are,” Dr Pittman said.
“We really have an extraordinary place to call home, with so much opportunity if we choose to take it.”
She also reflected on resilience and reinvention, drawing parallels between her own career shifts and the journeys of newly minted Australian citizens.
“Unfortunately, due to injury, three Olympic Games in a row, despite being world champion, I didn’t get that accolade,” she said.
“But it’s actually what gave me my career in medicine.
“I loved competing, but I love delivering babies even more.
“It’s the most extraordinary thing to be part of a new beginning.”
She said community support had been vital through periods of heartbreak and transition, crediting family – particularly her mother, a Dutch immigrant now living in Old Bar – as a key reason for settling in the region.
“Sometimes people are sitting in that heartache and it’s very difficult to navigate,” Dr Pittman said.
“That’s where community comes into it: reaching out, checking in and supporting each other.”
Offering advice to new citizens, she encouraged them to embrace both the challenges and opportunities of life in Australia.
“Welcome to our extraordinary country, and thank you for choosing it for your home,” she said.
“It’s going to be challenging at times, but when you reach out to each other and support each other through that, it’s a great place to be.”
By Matt TAYLOR
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