Jan Randles
Janice Margaret Randles was an Australian Paralympic athlete 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.
Randles was awarded Medal of the Order of Australia in June 2024 for service to Paralympic sports.
Background
Randles was born in Melbourne on 23 August 1945. In 1974 whilst holidaying in Bali, she fell off a motorbike and broke her back. Her working career was in the advertising industry. Randles died at the Frankston Palliative Care Centre, in Frankston, Victoria, on 12 January 2025, at the age of 79.Sporting career
Randles was classified "4" athlete in the Women's Marathon, 5000 m, 1500 m and 800 m at the 1984 New York/Stoke Mandeville Paralympics. 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.In 1985, she won the 100m, 200m and 400m events at the Australia Games. She competed at the 1985 World Cup in Athletics in Canberra in the women’s 800m demonstration race where she came second to world champion Monika Saker.
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.