AN empowered Jana Pittman has embraced the challenge of deciding her own Olympic destiny.

She knows the doubters are out there.

But, buoyed by the memories of her extraordinary 2007 campaign when she overcame two serious foot injuries to win a second world 400 metres hurdles title eight months after giving birth to son Cornelis, Pittman still believes she can do something special at the London Olympics.

Due to a litany of injuries, Pittman has hardly raced since that golden night in Osaka five years ago.

Now back running pain-free, she categorises 2011 as the year when everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

``There were times when I thought 'am I even going to make it to 2012?''' she said.

``But you look back and think you survive.

``It is literally that saying, I love that saying, where I felt it so many times and it's my new quote - when you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. ``I was swinging on the end of that knot for a long time.''

With a new year came the difficult decision to part ways with coach Phil King for a second time.

There was no bad blood, with Pittman saying the husband and coach of 1988 Olympic 400m hurdles champion Debbie Flintoff-King remained a great mentor whose ``no compromises'' approach had rubbed off on her.

Pittman is under no illusions about how far her pet event has moved on in the five years since her second world title.

Jamaican Melaine Walker won the Beijing Olympic title in 52.64 seconds and American Lashinda Demus clocked a scorching 52.47 in the world championships final in Daegu last year.

The Australian says it's ridiculous that her personal best remains the 53.22 she clocked nine years ago en route to her first world title in Paris.

``That is so slow,'' said Pittman, who plans to stay in the sport until the 2016 Olympics.

``So I want to run a PB and I still believe I have got nowhere close to the ability I have to run.

Pittman plans to return to racing over the hurdles in February, with the aim of bettering the Olympic qualifying standard of 55.50 at the national trials in March.

The last time she bettered that mark was when she clocked 55.34 in Lucerne in 2009.