Saville, from an athletically inclined family, competed in swimming, surf lifesaving, and walking as a junior athlete. She has competed at four Olympics, with a midfield result in 1996. In the 20km racewalking event at the 2000 Summer Olympics in her home city of Sydney, when heading into the stadium's tunnel for the final stretch, Saville was disqualified for an illegal gait (lifting, a very common occurrence in race walking; the previous leader of the event had already been disqualified). Saville collapsed in tears. Afterwards, when asked what she needed, she replied: "A gun to shoot myself".[1] Saville recovered her composure soon after and was publicly philosophical about her loss.[citation needed]
On her bronze medal in Athens, Saville stated: "Nothing will make up for a gold medal in your home town, but you know this is where the Olympics began and any medal here, you know, I'm absolutely ecstatic with it".[2]
Saville has won three gold medals at the Commonwealth Games: in the 10-kilometre walk in 1998 and in the 20-kilometre walk in 2002 and 2006. She has won the Australian women's race walking championship five times. She was the Australian flagbearer at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.[citation needed]
She is coached by her husband, professional cyclist Matt White. She splits her time between Sydney and Oliva, Spain. Her sister, Natalie Saville, is also a race walker and finished second to her at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.[citation needed]
Saville announced her retirement from competitive racewalking in February 2009,[3] with her future plans including continued work in community health and fitness promotion and a role on the IAAF racewalking technical committee.[4]
Both Jane and her sister Natalie Saville live in the City of Randwick Local Government Area. Together with Natalie, Jane was presented with the Keys to the City of Randwick on 22 October 2002 by Mayor Dominic Sullivan in recognition of outstanding achievement in sport.[citation needed]
Petria Ann Thomas, is an Australian swimmer and Olympic gold medallist and a winner of 15 national titles. She was born in Lismore, New South Wales, and grew up in the nearby town of Mullumbimby.
The women's 20 kilometres race walk at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program was held through the streets of Athens with the start and finish at the Athens Olympic Stadium on August 23.
Race walking, or racewalking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully assess that this is maintained throughout the race. Typically held on either roads or running tracks, common distances range from 3,000 metres (1.9 mi) up to 100 kilometres (62.1 mi).
Christie Dawes is an Australian Paralympic wheelchair racing athlete. She has won three medals in athletics at seven Paralympics from 1996 to 2021.
Australia at the 2006 Commonwealth Games was represented by Australian Commonwealth Games Association the (ACGA), and abbreviated AUS. Athletes from Australia were given automatic qualification in all sports due to the host status.
Athanasia Tsoumeleka is a Greek race walker, who won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
Ileana Salvador is a former Italian race walker who won eight medals at the World Championships and European Championships
Natalie Saville is an Australian race walker.
Cheryl Webb, is an Australian race walker. Webb won the bronze medal in the 20 km race at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. She is self coached since 2004.
Nathan Deakes is an Australian former race walker. Deakes trained with the Australian Institute of Sport.
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Claire Woods, also known as Claire Tallent, is an Australian racewalker.
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Race walking events at the Summer Olympics have been contested over a variety of distances at the multi-sport event. There were three race walking events in the 2020 Summer Olympics: a men's and a women's 20 kilometres walk, and a men's 50 kilometres walk. The races were held in a final-only format.
Evan Dunfee is a Canadian race walker and Olympian. An Olympic and World medallist, Dunfee first set the Canadian record in the 50 kilometres race walk at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where he placed fourth. He went on to win bronze medals at the 2019 World Athletics Championships and the 2020 Summer Olympics, both of those the last time the 50 km was to be featured as an event.
Dane Alex Bird-Smith is an Australian racewalking athlete. He competes in the 20 kilometres race walk, and has a best of 1:19:28 hours for the distance, set in 2017. He competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he was the bronze medallist. Bird-Smith represented Australia at the World Championships in Athletics three times, and has appeared four times at the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships/Cup.
Jemima Montag is an Australian racewalker. She came sixth in the final of the Women's 20 km walk in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in a time of 1:30.39.
Declan Tingay is an Australian racewalking athlete. He won the silver medal in the 10,000 metres walk at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Tingay is the Oceanian record holder for the 5000 m and 10,000 m walk.
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