Frank Turner

Frank Conway Turner (5 November 1922 – 27 September 2010) was a British gymnast who took part in four Olympic Games, three as a competitor and the fourth as National Coach; he was captain of the British Gymnastics team in the 1948 Summer Olympics. Turner was four times British gymnastics champion.

Early life and education Born in the East End of London in 1922, Turner developed an interest in sports as a boy, training in table tennis, diving, football, boxing and gymnastics. As a flyweight, Turner boxed in the semi-finals of the Amateur Boxing Association of England Championship before deciding to develop his interest in gymnastics. Aged 11, he won the South of England Boys Championship in 1933 before making his international debut aged 15 in 1938. On leaving school in 1939, he worked as a bank clerk, but during World War II he was conscripted into the Royal Artillery in 1941. He served in North Africa and Sicily and was twice wounded.

Turner was also at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, competing in the Men's Individual All-Around, the Men's Team All-Around, the Men's Floor Exercise, the Men's Horse Vault, the Men's Parallel Bars, the Men's Horizontal Bar, the Men's Rings, and Men's Pommelled Horse.

In the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne Turner competed in the Men's Individual All-Around, the Men's Floor Exercise, the Men's Horse Vault, the Men's Parallel Bars, the Men's Horizontal Bar, the Men's Rings, and the Men's Pommelled Horse. As National Coach to the British gymnastics team, he also attended the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. With his wife he had two sons, Keith and Colin Turner.

Death Frank Turner died of cancer at his home in Bricket Wood in Hertfordshire in September 2010 aged 87. His ashes were scattered in a field in Aldenham.