Carrie Pickles joined a local gymnastics club as a youngster and, after the family moved nearer to Bradford when she was 15, she joined the Bradford Gym. On leaving school, Pickles went to commercial college to train as a shorthand typist and, dovetailing that with her gymnastics career, won the individual gymnastics title at the Yorkshire County Championships in 1924-26. She was the English champion 1927-29, and in the middle year, won the inaugural Northern Counties title (which she retained in 1929). Also in 1928, she won a bronze medal at the Amsterdam Olympics in the team competition.
After the Olympics, Pickles took up a teaching career and also coached young gymnasts at the Bingley Gymnastic Club. She was appointed coach to the Great Britain ladies gymnastics team for the 1948 Olympics, when four members of the British team were coached by her in Yorkshire. She was again appointed coach to the British team in 1952. Her two daughters Jill and Jan were excellent gymnasts and Jill followed her mother and also became an Olympian.
Great Britain