Dual 400m hurdles world champion Jana Rawlinson took to her new home track at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) announcing recently that she would base herself at the AIS and in Europe in the lead up to the London 2012 Olympics.

Rawlinson, the 2003 and 2007 world champion in the 400m hurdles, accepted a scholarship at the AIS in her efforts to find the best daily training environment and sports science and medicine support to assist her to convert her world championship titles to Olympic gold at the 2012 Olympics.

Rawlinson has had a history of troubling injuries that have blighted her last two Olympic Games preparations. In Athens in 2004 she ran a gallant fifth in the final after injuring her knee in Zurich and undergoing surgery one week before the Games. Set to compete at the Beijing Olympics this year as the reigning world champion and race favourite, she succumbed to a persistent toe and foot injury in July and withdrew.

Rawlinson believes the world-leading sports science and sports medicine experts and facilities at the AIS are her best chance to keep her body in good shape and her Olympic dreams alive.

‘The Australian Institute of Sport really supports you as an athlete, and knowing that I have a team of sports scientists and sports medicine professionals involved in my preparations, along with leading edge technology at my finger tips is fantastic, so I am really excited to be training here.’

Rawlinson was also attracted to the idea of training in the relative calm and quiet of Canberra in order to allow her to better concentrate on her training program without the distractions and challenges that training in Sydney or Melbourne might bring.

Rawlinson, and her son Cornelis, are joined in Canberra by her husband and coach Chris.