Edward Potts

Edward Potts first made an impression on the gymnastics world in 1907 when he won the prestigious German Gymnastics Society Championship. He retained the title in 1908, when he also finished ninth in the individual all-round event at the London Olympics. A third consecutive German Gymnastics title came in 1909, which meant he had to retire from the event as a competitor, but he continued as a judge for several years.

Potts won the 1910 and 1911 Metropolitan and Southern Counties Championship, and in 1912 won the coveted English title when he beat Len Hanson into second place by just 3½ points, despite being outscored by Hanson on three of the four pieces of apparatus. Potts was trained at the Northampton Polytechnic Institute (NPI) by Rudolf Oberholzer, father of Henry. Potts’ younger half-brother Reginald was also English champion, in 1914. Another half-brother, Henry, was a gymnastics and wrestling judge at the 1908 London Olympics, and was also an honorary secretary and judge for the Amateur Wrestling Association between 1908-12. He also won the high jump competition at the Inter-Polytechnic Championships.

Edward and Reginald were bronze medal winners with the Great Britain team gymnastics at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, and Edward was captain of the NPI team that beat Birmingham City to win their first ever Adams Shield as national team champions that same year. Potts did not defend his national individual title in 1913 because business commitments kept him away from his London base a great deal, but he did return to the NPI team to help them retain the Adams Shield. Potts served on the executive committee of the Amateur Gymnastic Association. By profession, he ran his own glass merchant’s business, E. W. Potts & Co. Ltd.