Mollie Phillips was an Olympic ice skater from Carmarthenshire who achieved greatness in her sport – as both a figure skater then a judge. Her plaque was unveiled in the town she called home, Carmarthen, on Friday April 17, 2026.
Mollie was remarkable for achieving not one, but more than half a dozen, ‘firsts’ in her career in the sport.
These ‘firsts’ ranged from being the first woman to carry the Olympic flag for her nation, at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, to becoming the youngest and first woman elected to the National Skating Association to being the first ever woman to be an assistant referee in an international skating competition.
Born in 1907 in London she grew up in her family’s home in Pencarreg, a hamlet near the village of Llanybydder (four miles south west of Lampeter). She took up skating as a young girl and gave up a potential career as a barrister to pursue her talent for figure skating in the 1920s and 1930s.
She was 24 when she was chosen as one of only four athletes to compete in the 1932 GB Winter Olympics squad and, at the opening ceremony, became the first woman to carry the GB flag at an Olympic event. She came ninth in her competition but went on to win the British Championships a year later with skating partner Rodney Murdoch.
Mollie also competed in European and World Cups over the next few years and was at the Winter Olympics in 1936 held in Bavaria (attended by Hitler). She retired from skating competitively in the late 1930s and then went on to forge a whole new career within the sports governing bodies and also as a referee and Olympic judge – at a time when judges were overwhelmingly male and from an older generation, Mollie was certainly a fresh face and broke the mould.
Mollie remained a high-profile skating judge until the 1980s and was made the first ever president of the Welsh Ice Skating Association in 1984.
Sglefrwraig iâ Olympaidd o Sir Gaerfyrddin oedd Mollie Phillips. Daeth i’r brig yn ei champ fel sglefrwriag ac yna fel beirniad. Cafodd plac i’w hanrhydeddu ei ddadorchuddio yn nhref Caerfyrddin, y dref a ddaeth yn gartref iddi, ddydd Gwener, 17 Ebrill, 2026.
Roedd Mollie yn nodedig am gyflawni nid un, ond dros hanner dwsin, o ‘orchestion cyntaf’ yn ystod ei gyrfa yn y gamp.
Mae amrediad eang o’r ‘gorchestion cyntaf’ hyn. Er enghraifft, hi oedd y fenyw gyntaf i gario baner Olympaidd ei gwlad yng Ngemau Olympaidd y Gaeaf 1932 yn Lake Placid, y fenyw ieuengaf a’r fenyw gyntaf i gael ei hethol i’r Gymdeithas Sglefrio Genedlaethol a’r fenyw gyntaf erioed i fod yn ddyfarnwr cynorthwyol mewn cystadleuaeth sglefrio ryngwladol.
Ganed Mollie yn Llundain ym 1907, ond magwyd hi yng nghartref ei theulu ym Mhencarreg, pentrefan ger pentref Llanybydder (bedair milltir i’r de-orllewin o Lanbedr Pont Steffan). Dechreuodd sglefrio yn ferch ifanc a rhoddodd y gorau i yrfa bosibl fel bargyfreithiwr er mwyn dilyn ei thalent fel sglefrwraig ffigur yn ystod y 1920au a’r 1930au.
Yn 24 oed cafodd ei dewis yn un o bedwar yn unig o athletwyr i gystadlu yng ngharfan Gemau Olympaidd y Gaeaf Prydain Fawr ym 1932 ac, yn y seremoni agoriadol, cafodd yr anrhydedd o fod y fenyw gyntaf i gario baner Prydain Fawr mewn digwyddiad Olympaidd. Daeth yn nawfed yn ei chystadleuaeth ond flwyddyn yn ddiweddarach aeth ymlaen i ennill Pencampwriaethau Prydain gyda’i phartner sglefrio Rodney Murdoch.
Dros y blynyddoedd nesaf, cystadlodd Mollie hefyd yng Nghwpanau Ewrop a’r Byd ac roedd yng Ngemau Olympaidd y Gaeaf ym 1936 a gynhaliwyd ym Mafaria (pan oedd Hitler yn bresennol). Ymddeolodd o sglefrio cystadleuol ddiwedd y 1930au ond aeth ymlaen i greu gyrfa newydd sbon o fewn cyrff llywodraethu chwaraeon a hefyd fel dyfarnwr a beirniad Olympaidd, a hynny ar adeg pan oedd y mwyafrif llethol o feirniaid yn ddynion ac o genhedlaeth hŷn Yn sicr roedd Mollie yn wyneb ffres ac yn newid wyneb y gamp.
Parhaodd Mollie i fod yn feirniad sglefrio adnabyddus tan y 1980au ac ym 1984 penodwyd hi’n llywydd cyntaf erioed Cymdeithas Sglefrio Iâ Cymru.