Karen Pickering

Karen Denise Pickering, MBE is a former competitive freestyle swimmer from Great Britain. Pickering was the first woman to win an individual World Championship gold medal in swimming for Great Britain at the 1993 [FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m)|1993 FINA Short Course World Championships] in the 200 metre freestyle, and was part of the team that won relay gold three times for Great Britain in both long course and short course world championships.
Swimming for England, she is a four-time Commonwealth Games champion, including individual titles in the 100 metre freestyle and 200 metre freestyle.

Swimming career

She made her international senior debut in 1986. She was first selected to represent her country at the European Junior Championships. Pickering competed in four consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1992 Summer Olympics|1992].
She won her first medal in 1993, at the inaugural 1993 FINA Short Course World Championships in Palma de Mallorca, where she won the gold medal in the 200 m freestyle. With that performance Pickering became Britain's first swimming world champion.
She was a member of the British swimming squad from 1986 to 2005 and has a collection that includes 8 World Championship medals, 14 European Championship medals, 38 National Championship titles, and a Commonwealth Games medal haul of 13 including 4 gold. The 2002 Commonwealth Games saw Karen win three medals, two gold and one silver, in front of her home crowd, a career highlight which was crowned with the honour of carrying the English flag at the closing ceremony.
She is a two times winner of the British Championship in the 50 metres freestyle, seven times winner of the British Swimming Championships – [100 metres freestyle winners|100 metres freestyle], nine times winner of the 200 metres freestyle and was the British Swimming Championships – [400 metres freestyle winners|400 metres freestyle] champion in 1992, 2002 and 2003.

For her services to swimming Karen was awarded an MBE in the 1994 New Years Honours List.
Pickering is the Sports Ambassador for Ipswich in Suffolk, and chaired the British Athletes Commission between 2004 and 2016.