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.

[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.

[3] In the 1950 European Championships in Brussels, Desforges finished fifth in the 80 m hurdles and was part of the gold medal winning 4×100 m relay team.

[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 poor health due to a heart condition in her last years but focused on being present for the Athletics at the 2012 London Olympics.