Background
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.
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.
During her career she set British records in the women"s pentathlon and the long jump. Born in Forest Gate, London, she made her international debut at the age of eighteen, competing in the 80 m hurdles. In 1953, Jean Desforges broke a British record and became the first British woman to long jump over 20 feet, when jumping 6.10 m in Nienburg, Germany.
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
At the same championships Desforges finished sixth in the 80 m hurdles. She ended her career with personal bests of 11.1 seconds for both the 100-yard dash and the 80 m hurdles.
She also broke the British record for the pentathlon in her career, accumulating a total of 3997 points in 1953. 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
By 2013, the Memorial Fund had given out £1.3 million in grants to young athletes, coaches and athletics groups.
Such was the breadth of the fund"s support, around 75% of the British track and field team had been Ron Picking Memorial Fund grant recipients earlier in their career, among them Olympic champions Jessica Ennis, Christine Ohuruogu and Greg Rutherford. She was awarded an Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2010 New Years Honours List for her services to athletics. She was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011.
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.
She vehemently supported the continued use of London"s Olympic Stadium for athletics after the Games, saying "If you pull that stadium down, who"s going to inspire the kids of today? What message does it send them?". She died aged 83 on 25 March 2013.