Karen Pickering MBE    

Karen represented her country at a senior level for 20 years during which time she won more major championship medals for Britain than any other female swimmer and won the most Commonwealth medals for England of any female athlete in any sport. She was also the first British female swimmer to win a World Championship title when she took gold in the 200m freestyle in 1993.

Karen made her international debut in 1986 and went on to win an incredible 73 titles on the national and international stages. She was four times World Champion, won 14 European Championship medals, 38 British Championship titles and 13 Commonwealth Games medals (4 gold). The 2002 Commonwealth Games saw Karen gain two gold and a silver medal in front of her home crowd, a career highlight which was crowned when she was given the honour of carrying the English flag at the Closing Ceremony.

Her career has been an eventful one. As well as an amazing medal haul she has twice held a World Record, she competed at four consecutive Olympic Games, which few athletes in any sport have done and in 1994 she was awarded an MBE for services to swimming.

What makes Karen’s achievements all the more remarkable, is that many of her successes were gained despite the fact that in 1996 Karen broke her back in a car accident. The three years following the accident saw her fight to get back to world level competition and ultimately succeed in her goal.

Since her retirement from international swimming in 2005, Karen has become regular member of the BBC Radio 5 Live commentary team and has taken on a number of roles. She is now Ambassador for Sport for Ipswich, is Chair of the British Athletes Commission, and is on the executive boards of both the English Institute of Sport and British Olympic Association.

Karen is also very much in demand as a motivational and after dinner speaker and is a popular choice for hosting events.

One of Karen’s proudest achievements since retiring is founding the Splash Awards, an annual black tie event that recognises and celebrates the achievements of elite swimmers (able bodied & disabled), divers, waterpolo players and synchronised swimmers. www.splashawards.com

Most recently Karen launched her own learn to swim school, to encourage the next generation of youngsters to take part in the sport she loves and maybe follow in her footsteps. Karen Pickering Swim caters for all age groups and abilities as well as offering a consultancy service to teams and athletes in other sports who want to improve their cross training, recovery or injury rehabilitation work.