Golden moment: Britain's Andy Turner produces the goods when it matters to capture the gold medal in the 100m hurdles in Barcelona Photo: GETTY IMAGES
While many had been touting the claims of William Sharman as Britain’s big hope in the 110 metres hurdles, it was the less heralded man, another rare British battler, who prevailed after Sharman had been disqualified in his semi-final for a false start.
It was the race of the Nottingham man’s life and his gold-laden team-mates were left thrilled by this ultimate Turner prize. Years of near-misses and frustrations seemed to be packed into his 13.28 sec of immaculate action In his semi he had clattered into the eighth hurdle and looked ragged, but when it mattered, it was Turner who proved as note perfect as we had expected the classically-trained pianist Sharman to be, smoothly clearing the 10 barriers before bounding over an imaginary 11th while clouting the air in sheer joy. It was his best time of the season.
And Turner’s triumph, like the medals of Mark Lewis-Francis and Christian Malcolm before him, was another reward for a British athlete who simply refused to be written off.
Last year, Sutton-based Turner had lost his Lottery funding, suffered further injury which wrecked his season and saw his thunder stolen by Sharman.
At 29, he could have been forgiven for starting this season believing he may never win a major gold after picking up a bronze at these championships four years ago and at the Commonwealth Games.
Maybe feeding athletes and then starving them really does work wonders. Turner was mad, losing an appeal against the Lottery cut despite claiming it was unfair because he had been injured.
But after the financial backing was restored this year, the result was this magnificent performance, just one-hundredth of a second outside his lifetime best, but recorded in the teeth of a headwind.
“I walked round the stadium the other day and I stood by the rostrum, looked at the gold medal spot and thought: ‘I want to stand on that so bad’,” he reflected afterwards.
“It’s been a tough two years but I’ve been chipping away and working hard, all those lows have finally been worth it. I can forget about that now.”
For once in his life, Turner got lucky. He feared he had false-started in Thursday’s heats, nearly tumbled in his semi and when the Czech favourite, Petr Svoboda, appeared to be surging to victory in the final, he clattered into the seventh hurdle and ended up trailing home sixth.http://jodnet.blogspot.com
“It might have cost him,” said Turner, who was effectively given a free ride to the line, pursued by Frenchman Garfield Darien (13.34) and Hungarian Daniel Kiss (13.39).
Watching from the commentary box, Jackson, four-time winner of this title, acclaimed his successor’s “special moment”. Turner had battled for years to bound out of the imposing shadow left by the golden era he and Jarrett had enjoyed.
There needs, again, to be some perspective. This time only puts him eighth in the world on this year’s rankings.
It was comical how all the pre-competition hype had centred on Sharman, a fascinating character who plays the cornet, has an economics degree, and was formerly the timekeeper on Gladiators.
But Sharman, fourth in last year’s World Championships, fell foul of the ‘one false start and out’ rule, introduced here at a major championship for the first time.
“No complaints but it was like a nightmare,” he said. “I think this new rule is horrible.”
And Turner’s triumph, like the medals of Mark Lewis-Francis and Christian Malcolm before him, was another reward for a British athlete who simply refused to be written off.
Last year, Sutton-based Turner had lost his Lottery funding, suffered further injury which wrecked his season and saw his thunder stolen by Sharman.
At 29, he could have been forgiven for starting this season believing he may never win a major gold after picking up a bronze at these championships four years ago and at the Commonwealth Games.
Maybe feeding athletes and then starving them really does work wonders. Turner was mad, losing an appeal against the Lottery cut despite claiming it was unfair because he had been injured.
But after the financial backing was restored this year, the result was this magnificent performance, just one-hundredth of a second outside his lifetime best, but recorded in the teeth of a headwind.
“I walked round the stadium the other day and I stood by the rostrum, looked at the gold medal spot and thought: ‘I want to stand on that so bad’,” he reflected afterwards.
“It’s been a tough two years but I’ve been chipping away and working hard, all those lows have finally been worth it. I can forget about that now.”
For once in his life, Turner got lucky. He feared he had false-started in Thursday’s heats, nearly tumbled in his semi and when the Czech favourite, Petr Svoboda, appeared to be surging to victory in the final, he clattered into the seventh hurdle and ended up trailing home sixth.http://jodnet.blogspot.com
“It might have cost him,” said Turner, who was effectively given a free ride to the line, pursued by Frenchman Garfield Darien (13.34) and Hungarian Daniel Kiss (13.39).
Watching from the commentary box, Jackson, four-time winner of this title, acclaimed his successor’s “special moment”. Turner had battled for years to bound out of the imposing shadow left by the golden era he and Jarrett had enjoyed.
There needs, again, to be some perspective. This time only puts him eighth in the world on this year’s rankings.
It was comical how all the pre-competition hype had centred on Sharman, a fascinating character who plays the cornet, has an economics degree, and was formerly the timekeeper on Gladiators.
But Sharman, fourth in last year’s World Championships, fell foul of the ‘one false start and out’ rule, introduced here at a major championship for the first time.
“No complaints but it was like a nightmare,” he said. “I think this new rule is horrible.”
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