Janice "Jan" Margaret Randles OAM (born 23 August 1945) is a Paralympic athletics competitor from Australia who competed in the 1984 New York/Stoke Mandeville Paralympics and won two medals - gold and bronze. She was the first female Australian Paralympian to win a Paralympic Games marathon. The next Australian woman to win a Paralympic marathon was Madison de Rozario at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.[1]
 Jan Randles, 1984 Australian Paralympian photographed 2024 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality |  Australia | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 23 August 1945 Melbourne, Victoria | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||
Randles was awarded Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024 for service to Paralympic sports.[2]
Personal
editRandles was born on 23 August 1945 in Melbourne.[3] In 1974 whilst holidaying in Bali, she fell off a motorbike and broke her back.[3]
Sporting career
editRandles was classified "4" athlete in the Women's Marathon, 5000 m, 1500 m and 800 m at the 1984 New York/Stoke Mandeville Paralympics.[4] She won two medals: a gold medal in the Women's Marathon 4 event and a bronze in the Women's 5000 m 4 event.[4]
In 1985, she won the 100m, 200m and 400m events at the Australia Games.[3] She competed at the 1985 World Cup in Athletics in Canberra in the women’s 800m demonstration race where she second to world champion Monika Saker.[3]
At the 32nd International Stoke Mandeville Games in 1986, she won gold medals in the Women's 5000m and marathon, silver in the Women's 400m and bronze medals in the Women's 800m and 1500m.[2]
Resources about
editA collection of biographical cuttings on Randles is available at the National Library of Australia,[5] and she is featured in a video published in 2012[6] to mark the 50th anniversary of Disability Sport and Recreation.[7]
References
edit- ^ Pender, Kieran (3 March 2022). "Half a million words and 20m views: the project preserving Australia's Paralympic history". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
- ^ a b "Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the General Division" (PDF). Governor-General of Australia. 10 June 2024. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
- ^ a b c d Randles, Jan (8 December 2021). "Australian First Female Paralympic Marathon Gold Medallist: Jan Randles Journey". Australian Sport Reflections. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
- ^ a b "J. Randles - IPC Historical Results Database (athlete search by surname: Randles)". International Paralympic Committee (IPC). Retrieved 13 July 2016.
- ^ "[Biographical cuttings on Jan Randles, sportswoman, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or... - Catalogue | National Library of Australia". catalogue.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
- ^ "Disability Sport and Recreation 50th anniversary mini-documentary". Victorian Collections. 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
- ^ DSR 50th Anniversary Mini Documentary, retrieved 11 March 2024