Karen Pickering, former Olympian and two time world champion swimmer, met with Kingston University’s top athletes on Friday to offer them advice on how they can make it to the Olympics in 2012.

Karen Pickering, who was awarded an MBE in 1994, addressed students at an awards ceremony for Kingston University athletes held in the University’s John Galsworthy building.

She regaled them with stories of her international triumphs before fielding questions from students on what it takes to become a top athlete.

“You don’t need elite talent to be an elite athlete”, said the former Olympian, who came back from injury in 2002 to snatch Gold from under the nose of the Australians at the Commonwealth Games in the 200 metre freestyle. “I didn’t have the best of starts [in my career], I was too small to stand in the water - I could barely float let alone swim. But it goes to show that natural ability is just a head start, everything else can be learnt.”

Ms Pickering reiterated on several instances the power of will over natural talent: “Every time I failed, I said to myself, ‘I’ll work harder'. There were times when I was tipping tears out of my goggles or throwing up after practice. As an athlete, times are often more tough than good, but the good are amazing.”

She went on to speak of her “immense pride” at representing Great Britain for 19 years, between 1986 and 2005, collecting Four World Championships, 38 National Championships and Four Commonwealth Gold’s.

Amongst those who received awards from Ms Pickering was Jayne Crook, a third year sports science student who recently ranked third in the country at the British Individual Fencing Championships: “There’s huge pressure balancing student life with training” said Ms Crook, “but Kingston has offered me financial help as well as the facilities – like Sports Massages- which is great.”

Ms Pickering, who chose to turn professional instead of going to University, conceded that balancing school with training is a challenge: “I’d go straight from training every morning to school. It was exhausting. I got the nickname ‘No Knickers Pickers’ because I always forgot to pack my underwear for after training!”

However the prospect of the upcoming Olympics has seen an injection of cash into the development of sport and Ms Pickering sees no reason that athletes cannot combine sports with their studies: “As in America, everyone comes up through the university system. We haven’t been that good here but Kingston is a good example of how it is improving.”