Woman’s Day Australia – July 08, 2019

melted.“Itwasmeanttobea

quickthree-daygetawaywith

the family to Thredbo after an

intense six months at university,”

says Jana, who is in her final year

of a five-year degree in medicine.

“I went to the top of the slope

with my son Cornelis, while my

partner Steve minded my girls

EmilyandJemima.

“Weskieddown,andI noticed

mydaughterswerewearing

whitetops.AsI gotcloser,I saw

thatJemima’ssaid,‘Mummy,

pleasemarryDaddelySteve,’

andEmily’ssaid,‘Mummy,

pleasesayyes.’”

WILLYOUMARRYME?

Themanbehindtheelaborate

proposalwastheloveofJana’s

life,SteveShort,whoworksin

corporatemaintenancefora

largesupermarketchain.

Heproduceda bunchof

flowers,sanktoonekneeand

said,“Iloveyouandwanttobe

withyoufortherestofmylife,

willyoumarryme?”

worldchampion,sheforgotto

answeratfirst,butwhenshe

finally let out an excited, “Yes!”

everyone cheered, including

12-year-old Cornelis, who’d

sneakily donned his own shirt

saying,“Mum,marrythatman!!”

Steve,45,and“Emily”, Jana’s

pseudonym,metalmostthree

yearsagoona datingwebsite

andhitit offimmediately. The

father-of-twoandgrandad-of-

onehadnoideahewaschatting

toa famousathleteuntilhe

showedJana’sphototohissister,

whocouldn’tbelievehehadn’t

recognisedher.

“Wefellforeachotherquite

quickly,butovertheyearswe’d

breakupa lot,too,”Janasays.

“Itwasmainlymyfault– I was

relationshipsandI keptlooking

forholesinthisone.”

LETTING GO OF THE PAST

Jana previously married and

divorced her former coach and

Cornelis’ dad Chris Rawlinson

twice, before going on to

announce her engagement

toITconsultantRajivChaudhri

inApril2017,shortlyafterthe

birthoftwo-year-oldEmily

who,likefour-year-oldJemima,

wasconceivedviaan

anonymousspermdonor.

HerromancewithRajivcame

toanendsoonafter,

butwithSteve,Janasaysthings

areverydifferentandthey’re

bothincrediblydedicated

totheirlifetogether.

“Aboutthreemonthsago,we

decidedtostopmucking

aroundandstaytogetherno

matterwhat,”Janasays.

Althoughthecoupleare

remainingtight-lippedabout

theirbigday,theyplantowed

laterthisyear.“Steveisan

amazing man,” Jana gushes.

“He doesn’t mind that

I’ve had two children through

IVF with an anonymous

donor, and I had Cornelis

with my first husband.

“He loves me unconditionally

and I love how that brings out

my softer side,” she says.

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WHOLE FAMILY

D T E Q ESTION!

‘Helovesme

unconditionally

...thatbringsout

mysofterside’

Jana’s three

adorable kids

were there for

the proposal.

Emily and

Jemima were

in on the plan!

Jana competes

in the Athens

Olympics in

2004.

Words: Natalee Fuhrmann.