Pickering dreaming of Olympic success

IT is difficult to know where to begin when it comes to Karen Pickering.

Obviously there is her considerable success in the pool which saw her win eight World Championship medals, 14 European Championship medals, 38 National Championship titles, and a Commonwealth Games medal haul of 13, including four gold.

She also represented Great Britain at four consecutive Olympic Games between 1992 and 2004 and was awarded an MBE in the 1994 New Years Honours List.

There is, of course, her startling triumph over adversity. Having recovered from a broken back suffered in a car crash in 1996 to win gold at the World Championships just three years later.

Then there is her work since retiring, which has seen Pickering campaign tirelessly to promote swimming in schools and communities as well as her role on the organising committee for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

It is an amazing story, and not one many would have expected from the shy school girl known by her classmates as 'No Nickers Pickers'.

"I was getting up really early to go to the pool for training before school and nine times out of 10 I'd forget my underwear," laughed Pickering, as we meet at the K2 leisure complex in Crawley. "That became my nickname which was hardly the highlight of my schooldays, but at least the training paid off."

It certainly did and her experiences as a youngster inspired Pickering to a lifetime of re-defining what was considered possible in training.

"I think my story shows that you don't need talent to succeed. I was never the best in my age group when I started but what I had was a determination to do well.

"I knew if I worked harder than my friends I'd get better quicker than they did. I think that set me up for my whole career. I've always been the most dedicated and was prepared to dig that little bit deeper."

During the 20 years that Pickering was part of the GB squad she trained 10 times a week in the pool, and did countless sessions in the gym to bulk up her naturally slight frame.

"I always finished my workout with 900 sit-ups and when that became too easy I put a dumb bell on my chest.

"I took things to the extreme and many times I'd be ending a session struggling not to throw up with tears filling up my goggles."

The gruelling regime was burning more than 4,000 calories a day at it's peak, almost three times the average amount expected for a female.

"It got to the stage where it wasn't physically possible to eat enough, so I had to resort to protein shakes just to keep myself going," added Pickering.

"I'd regularly wake up in the night starving and I had to get up and eat something I was that hungry. Before I retired I'd started leaving snacks by the side of my bed as I knew I'd wake up at some point in the night."

All of this considerable effort, the sacrifices was inspired by a sheer ruthless determination to drag herself to the very top of her sport.

Yet despite her dedication and the best laid plans of her coach, her dream was almost snatched away from her just as she was entering her prime.

In 1996, just months after the Atlanta Olympics, Pickering was involved in a near fatal car accident.

While she escaped with her life, she did however, suffer a broken back and was told by doctors she may never swim again, let alone compete at the highest level.

"Lots of people were telling me it would be too hard and that I should have been happy with the career I'd had. But I made the conscious decision to go for it as I didn't feel I'd achieved everything I'd been capable of.

"It was a tough road but I came through it and when the results started I promised myself that I'd savour the moments a bit more.

"When I got back and started to hear the national anthem play after I won gold it made up for all the disappointments and the tough times immediately after the crash."

Today Karen Pickering is speaking to a group of school children about the benefits of swimming maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

It is one of her pet projects, and since retiring in 2005 she has kept herself busy promoting the sport as a fun way to get fit and stay in shape.

"About one in four 11 year olds and one in five adults in Britain can't swim, a frightening statistic when you think how many families go to beach resorts or to hotels with pools for their holidays," says Pickering.

"My job is to get out there and give people the confidence to get into the pool and show them what else they can bring to their sessions once they do.

"A lot of the time pools will have equipment but I think swimmers are a bit afraid to use it, they don't really know how to get the best out of it and perhaps are a bit afraid to ask.

"We try and make it so that when they go for a swim they can do a bit more than just plod up and down and get a better, more fun work-out."

Her passion for the sport is clearly obvious but it is when she starts talking about her work with the London Olympics that Pickering's face really lights up.

"One of the most amazing things is the iconic venue of the Olympics will be the pool. Normally all the attention goes on the stadium and the pool is a revamped one they already had but this time it is going to be stunning." enthuses Pickering who is part of the Games' organising committee.

"We are there to help the games be the best Olympics for the athletes ever. Our job is to make sure they cater for everything, that's something that hasn't always been the case in the past.

"Obviously it is important that the sponsors get what they want out of it and it is a great games for the public but I think this time we are trying to cater better for those taking part," adds Pickering who sits on the panel with former British number one Tim Henman and disabled basketball star Ade Adepitan.

"No decision is made on anything regarding facilities in the village before it has been put through us. It covers everything from the opening ceremony right down to what will be in the athletes room.

"It is important to the team organising the London games that the athletes go away and say the games was a success, if that happens then I think the 2012 team will have done a good job."

And with someone like Pickering on the team, you wouldn't bet against them doing just that.