{{short description|British former track and field sprinter (born 1966)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}} {{EngvarB|date=October 2017}} {{Infobox sportsperson | name = Doug Turner | image = | caption = | nationality = British (Welsh) | sport = Athletics | event = Sprints | club = Cardiff AAC | birth_date = 2 December 1966 | birth_place = Newport, Wales | death_date = | death_place = | height = | weight = | medaltemplates= {{MedalSport|Men's athletics}} {{MedalCountry|{{GBR2}}}} {{Medal|Competition|European Championships}} {{Medal|Silver|1998 Budapest|200 m}} }} '''Douglas 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.
==Career== Born in Newport, Wales,<ref name="BBC">{{Cite news |date=2004-03-14 |title=BBC SPORT {{!}} Athletics {{!}} Turner hangs up spikes |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/2351263.stm |access-date=2024-05-14 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040314222430/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/2351263.stm |archive-date=14 March 2004 }}</ref> 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.<ref name=IAAFBio>[http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/great-britain-ni/douglas-turner-50337#honours Douglas Turner]. IAAF. Retrieved 2 January 2016.</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2002-02-24 |title=Athletics: Speed guru backs his battling one-two |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/athletics-speed-guru-backs-his-battling-onetwo-9276417.html |access-date=2024-05-14 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>
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.<ref name=WAL>[http://www.gbrathletics.com/bc/wal.htm Welsh Championships]. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2 January 2016.</ref> He was also twice a 200 m winner at the AAA Indoor Championships, topping the podium in 1996 and 2002.<ref name=AAA>[http://www.gbrathletics.com/bc/aaai.htm AAA Indoor Championships]. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2 January 2016.</ref> He achieved his personal best of 20.43 seconds in 1996.<ref name=IAAFBio/> 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.<ref name=Brink/> 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.<ref>[http://kl98.thecgf.com/results/21at4x100m-mf.html "Games Results: Athletics – 21st September 1998 4 X 100m MEN FINAL"]. 1998 Commonwealth Games. Retrieved 2 January 2016.</ref>
The 1998 season proved to be the high point of his career. First he placed fifth at the 1998 European Athletics Indoor Championships.<ref name=Brink>[http://trackfield.brinkster.net/Profile.asp?ID=6816&Gender=M&Page=Tournaments.asp&Tour=E&Year=1998&TF=T Douglas Turner]. Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved 2 January 2016.</ref> 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.<ref>[http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/ec.htm European Championships (Men)]. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2 January 2016.</ref>
Turner ran at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics, but failed to make the final.<ref name=IAAFBio/> 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.<ref name=BBC/>
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.<ref name=BBC/>
==Personal bests== *100 metres – 10.37 (2001)<ref name=IAAFBio/> *200 metres – 20.43 (1996)<ref name=IAAFBio/> *60 metres (indoor) – 6.69 (2002)<ref name=IAAFBio/> *200 metres (indoor) – 20.59 (2002)<ref name=IAAFBio/>
==National titles== *Welsh Athletics Championships **200 m: 1995, 1996, 2001<ref name=WAL/> *AAA Indoor Championships **200 m: 1996, 2002<ref name=AAA/>
==International competitions== {| {{AchievementTable|Event=yes}} |- |1996 |European Athletics Indoor Championships |Stockholm, Sweden | — |200 m |{{AthAbbr|DQ}} |- |1997 |World Indoor Championships |Paris, France |5th (heats) |200 m |21.90 |- |rowspan=5|1998 |European Indoor Championships |Valencia, Spain |5th |200 m |21.51 |- |European Championships |Budapest, Hungary |bgcolor=silver|2nd |200 m |20.64 |- |World Cup |Johannesburg, South Africa |5th |200 m |20.51 |- |rowspan=2|Commonwealth Games |rowspan=2|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 |- |rowspan=3|2002 |European Indoor Championships |Vienna, Austria |3rd (semis) |200 m |20.84 |- |rowspan=2|Commonwealth Games |rowspan=2|Manchester, United Kingdom |7th (semis) |200 m |21.11 |- |8th |4 × 100 m relay |39.73 |}
==See also== *List of European Athletics Championships medalists (men)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{World Athletics}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Douglas}} Category:Living people Category:1966 births Category:Sportspeople from Newport, Wales Category:Welsh men sprinters Category:British men sprinters Category:Commonwealth Games athletes for Wales Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Category:World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain Category:Welsh sportspeople in doping cases Category:Doping cases in the sport of athletics Category:European Athletics Championships medalists