Olympic Dreams: Andy Turner's mum feels the pressure

Turner wins European hurdles title

The mother of double Olympian Andy Turner says she still feels the pressure on race day despite having watched her son compete for 20 years.

Turner, 30, from Hucknall, won his first major titles in 2010, clinching European and Commonwealth 110m hurdles gold medals.

He has represented Team GB at the last two Ol
ympics and hopes to be at the London 2012 party.

Yvonne Turner and her husband have supported their son, with both time and money, since he joined Notts Athletic Club at the age of nine.

She said she was "the proudest person ever" but finds watching the big races difficult.

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The pressure for me and Andy's dad is enormous. I get nervous and quite distressed

Yvonne Turner

"The pressure for me and Andy's dad is enormous. I get nervous and quite distressed," she said.

Yvonne said Andy loved sport from an early age and started to show promise as an athlete, aged seven, at school sports days.

"He used to win quite a lot and it got to the stage where people didn't want to race him," she said.

After joining Notts Athletic Club his parents' time was spent ferrying him from one event to another.

"Any family with children into sport will find themselves up and down the country. It's not just the training, it's the competitions," she said.

"We were lucky that we had our own business at the time and could finance him.

"Unfortunately, there are a lot of children out there whose parents cannot do that.

"We're losing a lot of talent because the parents don't have the opportunity to push their children on."

SPORTING HIGHS

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• Andy Turner won his first major titles in 2010, clinching European and Commonwealth 110m hurdles gold medals
• He has represented Great Britain at the last two Olympics
• Turner is the third fastest British hurdler in history behind Colin Jackson and Tony Jarrett
• When he was 16 he beat Team GB's Chris Tomlinson in the long jump
• The Nottingham Forest fan was signed to Notts County aged 12 but was let go two years later

Turner's next big race is at the Diamond League meeting at Crystal Palace on 5 and 6 August and then it is the World Championships at the end of August.

Despite big wins in 2010, a place in the GB team at London 2012 is not guaranteed, his mother said.

"A football team manager will pick the best people for the job. It's like that," she said.

But if Andy does make it his mother said she would be there.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world. I'd pay £1m for a ticket if I had too," she added.

Andy is one of BBC Radio Nottingham's featured athletes as part of 'Olympic Dreams' in the build-up to London 2012
.