The 2008 Beijing Olympics
and Paralympics
on the 91Èȱ¬
91Èȱ¬ Radio team Olympic impressions
Karen Pickering
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Karen Pickering made her international debut
in 1986 and went on to win an incredible 73
titles on the national and international stages.
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She was an outstanding member of the British
swimming squad for 20 years and has a
collection of winning medals that includes
eight world championship medals (four gold),
14 European championship medals, 38
national championship titles, and a
Commonwealth Games medal haul of 13,
including four gold.
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She has twice held a world
record, she competed at four consecutive
Olympic Games, which few athletes in any
sport have done, and in 1994 she was
awarded an MBE for services to swimming.
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Since her retirement from international
swimming in 2005, Karen has become a
regular member of the 91Èȱ¬ Radio 5 Live
commentary team.
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She has also taken on a
number of roles, including Ambassador for
Sport for Ipswich, Chair of the British
Athletes Commission, and executive board
member of both the English Institute of
Sport and the British Olympic Association.
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"For me the Olympic Games is huge,
because I wanted to compete for my country
and swim at the Olympics from the age of 10
or 11 so it was my ultimate ambition.
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"I guess
in some ways I wanted to go to it before I
even knew what it was all about.
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"At my first Olympics, which was Barcelona,
I remember walking out for my race and I'm
not sure how many the stadium held, but it
was way more than I'd competed in front of
before.
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"It was a huge noise, but I remember
as I walked out for my race I could hear my
sister because she managed to run down to
right near the front so she could shout, and
so when I walked out it was really comforting
because I saw her and could hear her.
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"My memories other than swimming – I've
been able to go to some pretty amazing
sporting moments.
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"I was in the stadium
when Cathy Freeman won in Sydney, and I
went to watch the basketball final in Atlanta,
where Muhammad Ali was presented with
his gold medal – I saw Michael Johnson break
his world record and Carl Lewis win the long
jump, and watched Amir Khan get his medal
so I've seen some great events.
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"I haven't been to Beijing before and I've
never really been able to see many
swimming races at an Olympics because I've
always competed in so many events, so it will
be great to actually see some swimming
races and be there to watch the British
swimmers compete this time round.
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"That's
one thing that struck me when I first did
commentary – that I was actually able to
watch some races instead of having to
prepare for mine.
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"And it's amazing to still be
part of the Olympics, it's such an incredible,
amazing event that I'm just really pleased
that I'm still going to be there and watch the
British team.
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"As far as that goes I think we've got some
really great chances.
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"The Americans have still
got to have their trials, which will obviously
change the world ranking a lot, but Cassie
Patten and Dave Davies both took silver
medals at the recent world open water
championships and that event, the 10k open
water, will be in the Olympics for the first time
so we've definitely got a chance of getting
medals in the men's and women's.
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"There's
maybe about eight events where we're in with
a shout of a medal – we've got people who
are ranked in the top five or six in the world
who could sneak in, but that means you could
get eight medals, you could get none.
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"I think Hannah Miley is a name to look out
for in the swimming, and overall I would say
that the girls are looking really good – Shanaze
Reade in BMX, Goldie Sayers in the javelin,
Heather Fell in modern pentathlon – so I think
there could be a whole new wave of female
athletes coming through, potentially.
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"It's great
to have so many great female athletes as it's
usually been dominated by the men.
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"For myself, I will watch any sports event live
– when you're there and you're watching it
I love it.
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"I watched the women's hockey
bronze medal game in Melbourne for the
Commonwealth Games, and I loved it. I'd
love to see the GB teams do well at
that – it's nothing like I remember it from
school! It's amazing how fit they are.
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"As for the significance of the Games being
held in Beijing, I guess that with everything
that's in the news at the moment, if the
Olympics weren't in Beijing no one would be
talking about Tibet or Darfur and I think
that's the power of the Olympics; it opens
doors.
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"When the Games are on people there
will have access to the 91Èȱ¬ website – things
like that are going to open up that just
wouldn't have happened and people in China
are going to see a side of the rest of the
world – and probably a side of China – that
they've never seen before.
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"It's such a
powerful event and as much as I think that
you need to separate sport and politics, and
it's certainly not for athletes to change the
world – they're there to compete, and
they'll have dreamt of competing in the
Olympic Games just like I did all those years
before – it does open people's eyes to other
things that are going on.
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"I still can't quite believe it's coming to
London, I wish I was younger and still able to
compete at those Olympics, I'm so jealous!
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"I
think there are people who don't understand
how amazing the Olympics are – for a lot of
people, the only sport they've ever seen live
is football so I urge them to get tickets and
watch some sports events they've never
seen before.
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"I'll watch any sport live because
I've been lucky enough to see some sports at
the Olympics that I wouldn't otherwise have
gone to, and realised how amazing these
athletes are and how exciting it is."
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