Jean Catherine Pickering MBE (née Desforges; 4 July 1929 – 25 March 2013)[1] was a female track and field athlete from Great Britain, who competed mainly in the 80 metres hurdles and long jump.

Her son, Shaun Pickering, followed in his mother's footsteps and went on to become an Olympian and a Commonwealth Games medallist, competing in the shot put.

[2] She represented Great Britain at the 1952 Summer Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland, where she finished fifth in the 80 m hurdles and won the 4×100 metres relay bronze medal with her teammates Sylvia Cheeseman, June Foulds and Heather Armitage.

[4] Her husband's death in 1991 led her to create the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund to help support athletics in Britain at a grass-roots level.

[3] Her passion for the sport remained until the end of her life – she suffered from bad health due to a heart condition in her last years but focused on being present for the Athletics at the 2012 London Olympics.