Aussie Olympics star Jana Pittman reveals how she hid secret health battle at World Championships

The sight of an elite athlete splashing water all over himself in the heat of battle is common, but the act was all about hiding a secret from Australian two-time summer and winter Olympian Jana Pittman.

Pittman, now 40 and a mother of six, has revealed that after a long career as an athlete, she struggles with incontinence.

At first she was embarrassed about the condition, but now she likes to talk about it to normalize the conversation for other women.

“It was a bit embarrassing afterwards, but the result was thousands upon thousands of women writing to me saying how they’d had the same thing. They were going to get help,” Pittman said ABC news in the run-up to World Continence Week.

Now 40, Pittman is a busy and active mother of six and also a doctor

Pittman, pictured with bobsleigh teammate Astrid Radjenovic, became the only Aussie along with Paul Narracott to compete in the summer and winner of the Olympics

The former hurdler, 400m and bobsleigh athlete revealed she came out of labor prematurely, leading to damage that left her wet in the middle of the race – and used the water to cover up the mishap.

‘When I had my first child I trained really hard during my pregnancy and came back too soon – I was back running within days of giving birth and just wasn’t aware of the impact on the pelvic floor without a physio to see,” said Pitman.

“Nevertheless, I went there and won the World Championships in Osaka about eight months later.

“Every time I raced I had a terrible accident. It’s a lot of impact, which is a tough 400m race and you jump barriers along the way. I was way too embarrassed to admit it when I was only 23 years old. “So I really kept it hidden, I didn’t tell anyone.”

It was late in life, speaking at a women’s conference, that Pittman found the courage to speak about the condition in a public forum.

“In that setting, they actually said to me, after I admitted I had that incontinence episode, I realized I had done fellow women a disservice by pretending it didn’t happen,” she said.

“I was trying to be this superhero as a mom returning to elite sports when people really needed to see the reality behind having kids and not training the pelvic floor properly.”

After having six children, Pittman has a completely different body these days and has normal health complications that come with motherhood

While Pittman was all smiles after winning gold at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Osaka, she was hiding a secret she has only now revealed.

As if Pittman didn’t have enough on her plate, she also took part in reality TV show SAS Australia and joined the Army Reserves

Pittman has long been an outspoken advocate for body positivity, consistently advocating self-acceptance and embracing one’s physical attributes.

In a recent Instagram post, the former Olympic runner also boldly shared a series of unfiltered photos showing off her “beautiful scars” and “stretched skin” that resulted from the birth of six children.

Yes this is the heaviest I’ve ever been yes my body bears the beautiful scars of motherhood especially the stretched skin of the twins at 39 but I’m also heavy because I have so little time ‘ she posted.

While Pittman has admitted that she is short on time, amazingly she still found time to add the Army Reserves to her resume.

This addition adds to her already impressive list of achievements, including four Commonwealth Games gold medals, representing her country at both the Summer and Winter Olympics, appearing on the reality show SAS Australia, and even becoming a doctor while she raised her six children.

Pittman said she was inspired by her brother Ryan and his challenges after a recent tour of Afghanistan.

She supported him during his return to civilian life, after witnessing the harrowing ordeal he endured and eventually overcame.