Andrew Steven Turner (born 19 September 1980) is an English bodybuilder and retired

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete who specialised in the

110 metres hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hu ...

and occasionally competed in the 100 and

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

sprints as well as

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

. At the 110 m hurdles, he is the 2011 World Championship bronze medallist, the 2010 European Champion and the 2010 Commonwealth Champion. Also in 2010, he broke the automatically timed

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

in the 200 metres hurdles. He was coached by

Lloyd Cowan Lloyd Cowan (8 July 1962 – 11 January 2021) was a British track and field athlete. Cowan specialised in the 110 and 400 metres hurdles, but was better known as a coach. On 11 January 2021, it was announced that Cowan had died at the age of 58 ...

Early life

Turner was born in Hucknall, Nottingham, England and educated at Nottingham High School.

Career

Andy Turner competed at the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, but failed to progress beyond the heats. Turner was third over the 110 m hurdles at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

in a time of 13.62 seconds. He won the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receiv ...

in the 110 m hurdles at the

2006 European Athletics Championships The 19th European Athletics Championships were held in Gothenburg, Sweden, between 7 August and 13 August 2006. The competition arena was the Ullevi Stadium and the official motto "Catch the Spirit". Gothenburg also hosted the 1995 World Champions ...

, and finished fourth at the

2007 European Indoor Athletics Championships The 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in the National Indoor Arena (NIA) in Birmingham, England, from Friday, 2 March to Sunday, 4 March 2007. Birmingham also held the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships. Men's results Trac ...

. He narrowly failed to make it into the final of the 110 m hurdles at the

2007 IAAF World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member federat ...

with his time in the third semi-final 0.05 seconds outside the second fastest losers' spot. Andy Turner represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

for a second time at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

and reached the quarter-finals stage. Following this performance,

UK Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics officials. The org ...

reviewed athletes funding and Turner's basic lottery grant of around £12,000 was cut, based on the assumption that he would not be a medal hopeful for the following year's

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. At the beginning of the 2009 athletics season, he finished fourth in the

60 metres hurdles 60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both ...

in the

European Athletics Indoor Championships The European Athletics Indoor Championships is a biennial indoor track and field competition for European athletes that is organised by the European Athletic Association. It was held for the first time in 1970, replacing the European Indoor Games ...

, narrowly missing out on a medal. After competing in the

150 metres 150 metres is a sprint event in track and field. It is a very rarely contested non-championship and not an IAAF-recognised event. Given the proportion of standard running tracks, the event typically incorporates a bend when held in a track and f ...

street race at the Great CityGames in Manchester, Turner won the 110 m hurdles at the

Fanny Blankers-Koen Games The FBK Games is an annual track and field event at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Stadion in Hengelo, Netherlands as part of the IAAF World Challenge Meetings. It was first organized in 1981. Its name honours Fanny Blankers-Koen, who won four gold med ...

in 13.30 seconds, close to a personal best. He won the 110 m hurdles at the

2009 European Team Championships The first European Athletics Team Championships took place on 20 and 21 June 2009. The track and field athletics tournament run by European Athletics was the successor of the old European Cup competition which was held annually until 2008. The C ...

, and said he intended to prove to

, that he could compete at the highest level in the sport. He entered the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

, but was eliminated in the heats stage while carrying an injury. He went on to finish the season at the

2009 IAAF World Athletics Final The 7th IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Kaftanzoglio Stadium in Thessaloniki, Greece on September 12 and September 13, 2009. The competition represented the culmination of the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Tour, a selection of athletics mee ...

, where he was fifth. The following year he competed at the

2010 European Team Championships The second SPAR European Team Championships took place on 19 and 20 June 2010. The track and field athletics tournament run by European Athletics was the successor of the old European Cup competition which was held annually until 2008. The 20 ...

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...

, winning the 110 m hurdles competition in 13.48 seconds to help Great Britain to second place overall in the tournament. Turner went on to his most significant victory to date in the 110 m hurdles at the

2010 European Athletics Championships The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, C ...

in Barcelona later that year. In the final, Turner got off to a quick start, but trailed

Petr Svoboda Petr Svoboda (born February 14, 1966) is a Czech former professional ice hockey defenceman who played 17 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning. He was ...

in the final with thirty metres remaining, but when Svoboda collided badly with the eighth hurdle, Turner powered through and won in a time of 13.28. Turner completed a successful 2010 season by winning the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the ex ...

110 m hurdles title in New Delhi in 13.38. At the 2011

Manchester City Games The Great Manchester Run (styled as the ''Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run'' for sponsorship purposes from 2017) is an annual run through Greater Manchester (namely Manchester, Trafford and Salford). It has consisted of a 10k run since it was ...

, Turner ran the rarely run 200 meters hurdles on a straight in 22.10 (+2.0). That time was superior to the previous automatically timed best by

Laurent Ottoz Laurent Ottoz (born 10 April 1970) is an Italian hurdler. He won four medals, at senior level, at international athletics competitions. Career His personal best time was 13.42 seconds, achieved in August 1994 in Berlin. This is a former Italian ...

. Ottoz had run his race in 22.55 around the bend on a conventional track, Turner ran on a specially constructed straight track on the streets of Manchester. Turner's time still did not exceed the last officially ratified record in the event, a hand timed 21.9 by Don Styron that had already stood for more than half a century. The

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

currently recognises all three times as records in "non-IAAF World Record events," Ottoz around a bend, Styron hand timed on a straight and Turner automatically timed on a straight. He then went on to win a bronze medal at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

after

Dayron Robles Dayron Robles (born 19 November 1986) is a Cuban track and field athlete who specialises in the 110 metre hurdles. He won his first major medal (a silver) in the 60 metres hurdles at the 2006 World Indoor Championships. He finished the 2006 seas ...

was disqualified for putting Liu Xiang of China off balance. A year later on English soil at the 2012 Olympics, Turner was one of the hurdlers to help Liu off the track after his injury and dramatic exit. Turner's defence of his Commonwealth title at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

in Glasgow was halted when he crashed out of his first round heat. At the

2014 European Athletics Championships The 2014 European Athletics Championships was held in Zürich, Switzerland, between 12 and 17 August 2014. It was the first time that Switzerland had hosted the European Athletics Championships since 1954. Great Britain headed the medal table, wi ...

Turner announced that he would retire from athletics at the end of the year. After retiring from athletics, Turner initially took up a career as a personal trainer, before deciding to follow in the footsteps of his brother, Garry, a fitness model, by becoming a bodybuilder.

Personal bests

*All information taken from

profile and UKA profile.

Television appearance

Turner appeared as the "This Is My..." guest in a 2013 episode of the British game show '' Would I Lie to You?'', where he revealed that he was beaten in a speed-eating competition by track and field athlete

Greg Rutherford Gregory James Rutherford MBE (born 17 November 1986) is a retired British track and field athlete who specialised in the long jump. He represented Great Britain at the Olympics, World and European Championships, and England at the Commonwealth ...

References

External links

* *
2010 Article
from

European Athletics The European Athletic Association (more commonly known as European Athletics) is the governing body for athletics in Europe. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. European Athletics has 5 ...

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Andy 1980 births Living people People from Hucknall Sportspeople from Chelmsford English male hurdlers British male hurdlers English bodybuilders Olympic male hurdlers Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships winners European Athletics Championships medalists British Athletics Championships winners AAA Championships winners People educated at Nottingham High School Commonwealth Games competitors for England