Pickering Gardens, CR0

Place Name

Karen Denise Pickering, (born 19 December 1971) was a former Olympic freestyle swimmer from Brighton and Hove. She took up swimming after being diagnosed with asthma aged 11. She competed in four consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1992 and has been a medal winner in various competitions becoming Britain’s first swimming world champion after winning gold at the inaugural 1993 FINA Short Course World Championships. 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 now the Sports Ambassador for Ipswich in Suffolk, and chaired the British Athletes Commission between 2004 and 2016. This road is named like many on the former brickworks site in Woodside after British Olympic athletes and coaches. The cluster includes Christie Drive, Adams Way, Backley Gardens, Goodhew Road, Akabusi Close, and Coe Avenue.

We had originally credited Ronald James Pickering as the Olympian named but given that the majority of those who have streets named after them took part in events in the 1980s and 1990s we have made the change. Thanks to Jim Bush for pointing it out. This is what we originally wrote: Ronald James Pickering (May 4, 1930 – February 13, 1991) was an athletics coach and BBC sports commentator, whose Memorial Fund, founded in 1991, supports hundreds of young athletes each year. Pickering coached several Olympic athletes, including Lynn Davies, who won gold medals in the long jump at the 1964 Olympics. He was the first host of the BBC1 children’s sports programme We Are the Champions, a show he presented from 1973 until his death. He was known for his catchphrase: “Away you go!”, at the end of each show. He also co-presented the programme Superstars from 1973 to 1985 with David Vine. He was a leading proponent of a scheme to use a disused banana warehouse on the Isle of Dogs as an indoor training centre, which later became the London Arena and was president of Haringey Athletic Club, whose members included Seb Coe and Mike McFarlane. Linford Christie dedicated his gold medal in the 100 metres at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona to Pickering.