Life Membership - Janet Nixon

21 May 2020

Life Membership – Janet Nixon

There are few harder workers for athletics in NSW than Janet Nixon and a long overdue recognition of Life Membership is awarded to her in 2020.

Nixon follows in the footsteps of her family who have for generations been technical officials. She is the third member of her family to be awarded Athletics NSW Life Membership, following her grandfather Ray White and father Ian White. Ray was a former treasurer of Athletics NSW and wrote the history of the association, while Ian was an official and board member at Athletics NSW for nearly 60 years.

Janet Nixon first served as a basket handler at the 1982 Commonwealth Games, carrying the bags for gold medallist Raelene Boyle, and has become one of the most respected photo finish judges in the world, volunteering internationally for over 24 years, since the 1996 World Juniors in Sydney. In 1994 she became a qualified national technical official and before she was 30 was the nationally appointed photo finish judge at the 1996 World Juniors. She held the same role at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the next month was the chief at the Paralympic Games.

A keen hurdler and cross country athlete, Nixon studied engineering and science at Sydney University. While a university undergraduate she was asked to assist with some technical issues with the photo finish equipment at ES Marks Field. She was soon involved heavily and since the ‘90s Nixon has volunteered extensively at NSW grass roots, school competitions, interclub, state championships; only broken by a few stints outside of the state, in Brisbane, Geelong and Scotland, with her family when her husband’s job was relocated. However, she still regularly returned to Sydney to officiate, and at the nationals as well as officiating locally to her. Her commitment to the task is as strong at a local meet as it is for a major international championship. Follow-up work from a state cross country can require her spending many hours or days matching a ‘chip’ time to a missing athlete. Like her father Ian, she will constantly consider the issue from an athletes’ view.

In the ‘90s when Nixon first became involved photo finish meant processing film after the race finished which took some minutes for the official results to become available. As digital cameras replaced film, cameras places could be judged on a digital picture within seconds of the race being completed. Places, times, and pictures can now be displayed on suitable display boards faster than timekeepers and judges can record their observation on a pads of paper. A feature of Nixon and her teams have been their ability to post times to the scoreboard within seconds. They have also gone the extra mile by producing, for the endurance events, complete lap times for every competitor – an outstanding service.

Mentored by South Australia’s Ian Boswell, Nixon has been a mentor to so many in NSW for over two decades. She has an outstanding commitment to sharing her knowledge and skills with others, especially younger officials, realising that her area of interest and expertise is one which might be attractive to those looking for a reason to make a long term commitment to athletics.

Her major international appointments over the last 20 years have been extensive, including:

Olympics – 2000, 2004, 2016

Paralympics – 2000, 2008

IAAF World Championships – 2011, 2015, 2019

IPC World Championships – 2011, 2015, 2019

Commonwealth Games – 2006, 2014, 2018 (with the contractor)

World Indoors - 2018

Goodwill Games – 2001

IAAF Grand prix Final – 2001

Youth Olympics – 2010, 2018

World Juniors – 1996, 2008

A fun fact is Nixon’s first international appointment as a photo finish judge was in 1991 at the World Speed Skating championships in Sydney, where Steven Bradbury was a competitor.

Janet Nixon is a solution-finder, a skill that has proven invaluable on many occasions during meets of all levels when the unexpected occurs or equipment or services fail.

Her commit and contribution to the competition pathway; school, club, state, national and international athletics, has been extensive and of the highest quality - always being prepared to donate her vast skills and professional expertise to her sport.

Congratulations to Janet Nixon on her Life Membership of Athletics NSW.

David Tarbotton and Brian Roe for Athletics NSW

Images: Janet Nixon