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. She was born in Radcliffe, Lancashire and died in Bury. She was a member of Bury Athletic Club and Radcliffe Athletic Club. There is a running track named after her in Radcliffe.
She won gold medals in the 60 metres and 200 metres at the Olympics of Grace in 1931.[2]
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 English 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).[3] In the 220 yards she won the bronze medal.
According to historian Jean Williams, Halstead also played as a centre forward for the Dick, Kerr's Ladies football team.[4]
She also competed in the 1.9-mile women's race before the International Cross Country Championships, winning the title for England.[5]
At the 1934 Games, her sibling Edwin Halstead (then Edith Halstead) also won a silver medal.