Karen Denise Pickering, MBE (born 19 December 1971) is a former freestyle swimmer from

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

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. 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 Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

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 (4 gold), 14 European Championship medals, 38 National Championship titles, and a Commonwealth Games medal haul of 13 including 4 gold. The

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

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 (1992 and 1993), seven times winner of the

100 metres freestyle The 100 metre freestyle is often considered to be the highlight ( Blue Ribbon event) of the sport of swimming, like 100 metres in the sport of Athletics. The first swimmer to break the one-minute barrier (long course) was Johnny Weissmuller, in ...

(1989-1993, 1997, 2000), nine times winner of the 200 metres freestyle (1990, 1992–1995, 1997, 1999 and 2002–2003) and was the 400 metres freestyle champion in 1992, 2002 and 2003.

Honours

For her services to swimming Karen was awarded an MBE in the 1994 New Years Honours List. Pickering is the Sports Ambassador for

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

in Suffolk, and chaired the British Athletes Commission between 2004 and 2016.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pickering, Karen 1971 births Living people English female swimmers Sportspeople from Brighton Sportspeople from Ipswich Olympic swimmers of Great Britain Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Swimmers at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games British female freestyle swimmers World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Members of the Order of the British Empire Medallists at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games

Swimming career

Honours

See also

References

External links