Jean Pickering: inducted into the England Athletics hall of fame in 2011
RON PICKERING was a former national coach and television commentator. He was a coach with the British Olympic team in 1964 and was the personal coach of Lynn Davies, who became Olympic long jump champion at those Games. He went on to be a brilliant orator and a superb athletics commentator for BBC television. For me it was a privilege to sit alongside him as a co-commentator for four Olympic Games beginning in 1976 in Montreal. He was a man who valued ethics and fair play and was an advocate of eradicating drugs and all forms of ergogenic aids from the sport he loved and sport in general. When he spoke, believe me, everybody listened.
“Sport is the most precious commodity we have to hand on to the next generation,” he famously said.