Jean Pickering (née Desforges) MBE 1929 – 2013. Olympic, Commonwealth, and European medallist, record breaker, philanthropist and founder of the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund.
The Athletics Museum was thrilled to be invited to celebrate the remarkable career of Jean Pickering (nee Desforges) with a pop up exhibition at the 2026 Pickering Memorial International competition which took place at the Paula Radcliffe Stadium, Loughborough on 31st May.
With the support of the Pickering family who generously provided artefacts and memorabilia on the day for audiences to view, including her 1952 Helsinki Olympic vest and Olympic Diplomas, we were able to trace Jean’s story from East End evacuee during WWII through Commonwealth, European and Olympic triumphs, to a post-competing career supporting athletes alongside husband Ron Pickering and as mother of Olympian Shaun Pickering. Her philanthropic drive, which led to the formation of the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund in 1991, has helped scores of young British athletes, indeed several of the competitors at this years event are Ron Pickering Memorial Fund recipients. The Legacy of Jean Desforges lives on.
The life and career of Jean Pickering (nee Desforges)
Jean Desforges was born in Forest Gate, in the East End of London on 4th July 1929, the youngest of three sisters. Her father, Frederick, worked for the Gas Board, her mother Elizabeth worked in a leather factory until she married aged 25.
Desforges attended West Ham Secondary School, though her schooling was interrupted by the War. Jean and sister Pat were evacuated from the East End, first to Brentwood, though they would come home at weekends, and then to Cornwall – Jean always credited her ability to compete physically after the War with how well she ate while in Cornwall. Jean and Pat returned to London in 1942 and were evacuated a third time to Lowestoft for school. After the War, Jean returned to West Ham Secondary School.
The school had no track facilities, and the playground was covered in rubble in the immediate aftermath of the War, but it did have a long corridor...
Jean, already a keen athlete as well as a netball player, persuaded the school’s woodwork department to construct three hurdles which she put to use in the corridor at lunchtimes to practice her stride pattern. Fellow pupil Ron Pickering who was in the year below her, would stand at the end of the corridor to prevent her from tumbling down the stairs at the end of each run.
Image: Pickering family
Jean joined Essex Ladies Athletics Club. Her talent was evident. She made her international debut for Great Britain at the highly competitive Anglo-French Games in Paris in 1947 having just turned 18. In front of a crowd of 20,000, Desforges beat the elite of French athletics to take her first international victory in 80m hurdles. Though France ultimately won the match, with a team score of 73 points to Britain’s 56, Desforges’ individual performance made her a name to watch and marked her as a rising star in British athletics.
Image: Pickering family
After her success in Paris, Desforges looked set to be included in selection for the 1948 London Olympics, however a sudden severe illness put pay to her 1948 season and kept her out of her home Olympic Games.
Disappointed but recovered, Desforges was back to competition by 1949, winning the Women’s Amateur Athletic Association 80m Hurdles Championship. She was selected for the British team at the European Championships in Brussels 1950, where she was part of the gold medal winning 4 x 100m relay. She took a bronze medal in the same event two years later at the Helsinki Olympic Games in 1952.
1953 saw her defend her WAAA 80m Hurdles Championship title, as well as adding the Long Jump and Pentathlon Championship title and becoming the first British Woman to break the 20 foot (6.10m) barrier. She was named British Woman Athlete of the Year 1953.
1954 was Desforges’ most successful year: she won long jump gold in the European Championship in Berne representing Great Britain – making her the first and to that date only British athlete to win gold in both a track and field event at a major competition, her first being relay gold 4 years earlier.
In addition to her European gold, she took two bronze medals for England at the Vancouver Commonwealth Games in long jump and 80m hurdles. Domestically that season she defended all three of her WAAA Championships, winning the long jump, 80m hurdles and pentathlon again.
Jean Desforge married Ron Pickering at Forest Gate in 1954. By this stage Jean was a star of international athletics; the wedding was featured by Pathe News, and so many people turned out to see her on her wedding day that police assistance was required to get the newlyweds from the church door to their waiting car.
Jean retired from competition soon after her marriage, however her involvement with athletics continued. At the time of their marriage Ron was working as a PE teacher at Stratford Grammar School – formerly West Ham Secondary where he had assisted Jean with her hurdling practice down the school corridor.
Image: Pickering family
Ron became the Welsh National Athletics Coach in 1960, moving the family to South Wales. Ron coached Welsh long jumper Lynn Davis to Olympic Gold at the 1964 Tokyo Games. He also became a BBC commentator covering predominantly athletics, with some gymnastics and skiing in the mix, making him a household name. Jean and Ron had two children, Kim and Shaun. Shaun, who was born in 1961, competed for Wales and Great Britain, taking a bronze medal in shot put at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.
Ron’s coaching and commentating, and Jean’s love of athletics meant a continued involvement with the sport throughout their lives and they formed long and lasting friendships with many athletes.
When Ron passed away suddenly in 1991, Jean established the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund with daughter Kim and son Shaun in memory of Ron.
The fund works to support young athletes by providing small but individually significant financial awards – this might be to assist with travel costs to competitions, purchase of equipment, or to access specialist coaching – the mission is to remove barriers for young athletes so they can develop to their full potential. As important is the recognition of potential and talent that the fund provides, helping grow young athletes’ confidence in the early stages of their athletics career. The fund also provides more significant scholarship grants.
Jean was awarded an MBE in 2010 for Services to Athletics and the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund. She was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011 in recognition of her athletics career and huge contribution to the careers of younger athletes through the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund.
Mary Rand followed in Jean’s footsteps as a hurdler, long jumper and pentathlete. 11 years Jean’s junior, Rand was the first woman to win Olympic gold for Great Britain, taking the long jump title at the 1964 Tokyo Games. Jean and Mary were great friends and remained so until Jean’s passing in 2013. Image: Pickering Family
Jean’s health began to diminish in the final few years of her life, but she was determined to attend a home Olympic games and was present on ‘Super Saturday’ of the London 2012 Games to see Greg Rutherford, Jess Ennis-Hill and Mo Farah – all Ron Pickering Memorial Grant recipients – each win gold.
Jean passed away at the age of 83, on the 25th March 2013. The Ron Pickering Memorial Fund is now run by Jean and Ron’s daughter Kim Pickering. To date, the Fund has distributed over £2.5 million to support hundreds of young British athletes on their way to success.
Previous Pickering Memorial International exhibitions
Pickering Memorial International in Britain’s best and most inclusive pathway throws competition, founded in 2023.
The Athletics Museum and the Pickering Memorial International team have collaborated to remember and celebrate the lives and careers of influential British field athletes through pop-up exhibitions at the event. You can find links to our previous years’ exhibitions below.
2024: Shaun Pickering. Olympian and Commonwealth medallist. Jean and Ron’s son
2025: Geoff Capes. Olympic thrower, highland games athlete and strong man
Thanks
With thanks to the Pickering family, the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund, Pickering Memorial Throws International, England Athletics.
Additional thanks to Oscar Hazelwood for exhibition support.