Douglas Turner (sprinter)

Douglas "Doug" Turner (born 2 December 1966) is a British former track and field sprinter who competed mainly in the 200 metres. He was the silver medallist at the 1998 European Athletics Championships. His personal best for the 200 m was 20.43 seconds, set in 1996. He also represented Great Britain at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics and Wales at the Commonwealth Games in 1998 and 2002.

Douglas Turner
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  Great Britain
European Championships
Silver medal – second place1998 Budapest200 m

Career

Born in Newport, Wales,[1] he was a late starter and made his debut at a major outdoor international competition in his thirties. He ran in the heats only at the 1996 European Athletics Indoor Championships and 1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships.[2] He came to prominence during a period of strong sprint competition in Wales, with Christian Malcolm, Jamie Baulch and Tim Benjamin among his contemporaries. Both he and Malcolm were members of Cardiff Amateur Athletic Club and worked with coach Jock Anderson.[3]

At the national level, Turner won the 200 m Welsh title on three occasions, having back-to-back wins in 1995 and 1996 before taking his final title in 2001. His winning time of 20.54 seconds in 2001 was a record for the meet.[4] He was also twice a 200 m winner at the AAA Indoor Championships, topping the podium in 1996 and 2002.[5] He achieved his personal best of 20.43 seconds in 1996.[2] He managed fifth for Great Britain at the 1998 IAAF World Cup, recording a time of 20.51 seconds, but failed to get past the semi-finals at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.[6] At that competition he was part of the 4 × 100 metres relay team and placed fourth in a team of Malcolm, James Henthorn, and Kevin Williams.[7]

The 1998 season proved to be the high point of his career. First he placed fifth at the 1998 European Athletics Indoor Championships.[6] Following this he won his only major international medal in the 200 m final at the 1998 European Athletics Championships, taking the silver medal as part of a British medal sweep alongside winner Douglas Walker and Julian Golding.[8]

Turner ran at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics, but failed to make the final.[2] His final year of competition came in 2002, when he ran in the 200 m heats at the 2002 European Athletics Indoor Championships and was a semi-finalist at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Following these performances, and his advancing years, the national sports body Elite Cmyru dropped him from their funding programme, which brought about his retirement from the sport.[1]

He received a three-month doping ban after a positive test for ephedrine in 2000. This also brought about an Olympic ban by the British Olympic Association, but an appeal to the body overturned the ban on the basis that only small traces were found in his system and that the consumption of the drug was unintentional.[1]

Personal bests

National titles
  • Welsh Athletics Championships
    • 200 m: 1995, 1996, 2001[4]
  • AAA Indoor Championships
    • 200 m: 1996, 2002[5]

International competitions
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
1996 European Athletics Indoor Championships Stockholm, Sweden — 200 m DQ
1997 World Indoor Championships Paris, France 5th (heats) 200 m 21.90
1998 European Indoor Championships Valencia, Spain 5th 200 m 21.51
European Championships Budapest, Hungary 2nd 200 m 20.64
World Cup Johannesburg, South Africa 5th 200 m 20.51
Commonwealth Games Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 5th (semis) 200 m 20.64
4th 4 × 100 m relay 38.73
1999 World Championships Seville, Spain 8th (q-finals) 200 m 21.08
2002 European Indoor Championships Vienna, Austria 3rd (semis) 200 m 20.84
Commonwealth Games Manchester, United Kingdom 7th (semis) 200 m 21.11
8th 4 × 100 m relay 39.73

See also

References
  1. Turner hangs up spikes. BBC Sport (22 October 2002). Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  2. Douglas Turner. IAAF. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  3. Anderson, Jock (24 February 2002). Athletics: Speed guru backs his battling one-two. The Independent. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  4. Welsh Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  5. AAA Indoor Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  6. Douglas Turner. Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  7. "Games Results: Athletics – 21st September 1998 4 X 100m MEN FINAL". 1998 Commonwealth Games. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  8. European Championships (Men). GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
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