Nellie Halstead
 Halstead (1. on right) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality | British (English) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 19 September 1910 Radcliffe, Lancashire, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 11 November 1991 (aged 81) Bury, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event | Sprints/400m | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Bury & Radcliffe AC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Nellie Halstead (19 September 1910 – 11 November 1991)[1] was an English track and field athlete who competed for Great Britain in the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. There is a running track named after her in Radcliffe.[2]
Biography
Halstead was born in Radcliffe, Lancashire and died in Bury. She was a member of Bury Athletic Club and Radcliffe Athletic Club.
Halstead became national 220 yards champion after winning the British WAAA Championships title at the 1930 WAAA Championships in a world record time of 25.2 sec.[3] The following year, Halstead won three WAAA titles, retaining her 220 yards crown and also becoming national 100 yards champion and national 440 yards champion at the 1931 WAAA Championships.[4]
She won gold medals in the 60 metres and 200 metres at the Olympics of Grace in 1931.[5] Halstead continued her success by retaining her 200 and 440 yards titles at the 1932 WAAA Championships and winning the 400 metres title at the 1933 WAAA Championships.[6]
She competed for Great Britain as one of Britain's first women track Olympians in the 1932 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, where in the 4×100 metres she won the bronze medal with her team mates Eileen Hiscock, Gwendoline Porter and Violet Webb (replacing the injured Ethel Johnson).
At the 1934 Empire Games she was a member of the England relay team which won the gold medal in the 110-220-110 yards relay event and the silver medal in the 220-110-220-110 yards relay competition (with Eileen Hiscock, Halstead, Ethel Johnson and Ivy Walker).[7] In the 220 yards she won the bronze medal.[8]
Halstead won further WAAA titles in the 800 metres at the 1935 WAAA Championships in a national record time of 2:15.6 and at the 1938 WAAA Championships[9] and a 400 metres title at the 1937 WAAA Championships.
According to historian Jean Williams, Halstead also played as a centre forward for the Dick, Kerr's Ladies football team.[2][10][11]
She also competed in the 1.9-mile women's race before the International Cross Country Championships, winning the title for England.[12]
Personal life
At the 1934 Games, her sibling Edwin Halstead (then Edith Halstead) also won a silver medal.
References
- ^ "Olympedia – Nellie Halstead". olympedia.org. OlyMADMen. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
- ^ a b Nellie Halstead, Sports Reference LLC, archived from the original on 18 April 2020, retrieved 14 August 2012
- ^ "Women Athletes". Liverpool Daily Post. 18 August 1930. Retrieved 23 January 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Women Set Up new Records". Weekly Dispatch (London). 12 July 1931. Retrieved 23 January 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Olympiad of Grace". Gbrathletics. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
- ^ "AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists". National Union of Track Statisticians. Retrieved 23 January 2025.
- ^ Commonwealth Games results Archived 23 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine. CWG. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
- ^ "Sydney 1938 Team". Team England. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
- ^ "Athletics". Hull Daily Mail. 10 August 1935. Retrieved 24 January 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ Jean Williams (2007). A beautiful game: international perspectives on women's football. Berg. p. 78. ISBN 978-1-84520-674-1. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
Nellie Halstead, who later played centre forward for Dick, Kerr, won bronze in the 1936 Olympic games.
- ^ Nellie Halstead, Radcliffe AC, archived from the original on 14 February 2015, retrieved 14 August 2012
- ^ International Cross Country Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2015-04-03.