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Olympic champion Sally Pearson announces surprise career move as she lands major TV gig READ MORE: Channel 7 axes popular nightly Gold Coast news bulletin - with last show to go to air on Thursday night By MARTA JARY FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA Published: 07:15, 3 February 2025 | Updated: 07:47, 3 February 2025 e-mail View comments Sally Pearson is making moves in television. The Olympic hurdler has landed a new role on Channel 7 breakfast television show, Sunrise, after embracing a TV career in recent years following her retirement. The 38-year-old tells the Courier Mail that she is looking forward to revealing her real self to the public.
'It's a relief and it's exciting because it's national TV and I always wanted to do something in the TV world that I could bring my personality out a bit more,' she said. 'Everyone has seen me as the athlete, really focused, tunnel vision sort of person..
. and they haven't seen the other side of me and that's Sally Pearson the person.' Sally is not new to television but suffered a career blow last year when Channel 7's Seven Gold Coast , where she was a presenter, was shut down.
Sally Pearson (pictured) is making moves in television. The Olympic hurdler has landed a new role on Channel 7 breakfast television show, Sunrise, after embracing a TV career in recent years following her retirement The athlete says she 'cried her eyes out' when she got the sad news, but immediately began pounding the pavement. 'I knew that it was going to be tough and I certainly didn't think it was going to be easy to find another job afterwards so me and my manager went knocking on doors and asking people and putting our names out there for jobs,' she said.
Channel 7 axed its Gold Coast news bulletin last year amid a shake-up at the network. Some staff were offered positions in the Brisbane bureau, while non-editorial departments including sales were expected to continue unchanged. The shutdown of the local Gold Coast edition, which ran at 5.
30pm ahead of the metro bulletin, followed a raft of well-publicised redundancies at the Seven Network including popular Queensland anchor Sharyn Ghidella and weatherman Paul Burt. A statement from the Seven Network said the move would not diminish its news coverage. 'Seven's Gold Coast news operation will be streamlined to run as a multi-faceted bureau, with its award-winning stories and hot button issues to be given more prominence in the nightly metropolitan news at 6pm,' a spokesperson said.
'Gold Coast viewers will receive the full hour of Seven's Afternoon News at 4pm, the full hour of The Chase Australia at 5pm, followed by 7NEWS live at 6pm.' 'It's a relief and it's exciting because it's national TV and I always wanted to do something in the TV world that I could bring my personality out a bit more,' she said Sally, who retired from competitive athletics in 2019, is the 2011 and 2017 world champion and 2012 Olympic champion in the 100 metres hurdles. She also won a silver medal in the 100m hurdles at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2013 World Championships Read More Olympic hurdler Sally Pearson reveals her very glamorous transformation during TV appearance Sally, who retired from competitive athletics in 2019 , is the 2011 and 2017 world champion and 2012 Olympic champion in the 100 metres hurdles.
She also won a silver medal in the 100m hurdles at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2013 World Championships. Sally shares two children with her husband Kieran: daughter Ruby, four, and son Harry, two. The champion is not entirely new to Sunrise - she was a guest last year to discuss Aussie boxer Harry Garside's loss at the Paris Olympics .
At the time, she debuted her glamorous new look which consisted of voluminous blonde locks and a full face of makeup including blush, eyeliner and faux lashes. Sally made headlines last year when she s lammed the Paris Olympics for failing to support athletes who make huge financial sacrifices to compete. She said that competing in the Olympics is not all glitz and glamour, with the opportunity to represent your country often coming with a heavy financial burden.
Pearson believes athletes are being ripped off because they are not being paid to compete at the Olympics. 'They are working just like anyone else and performing on a world stage, not just for the personal fulfillment, but also for our benefit,' Pearson wrote for News Corp. 'The cost of representing Australia.
How much is it really worth? 'Most of the time, it can be a heavy financial burden.' Pearson shared her own journey, starting at six years old when she decided to be the best in the world. 'You don't think about the sacrifices that you'll have to make when you're six, you're only thinking of the end goal,' she said.
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