JESS TURNER HEADS INTO THE OLYMPICS IN FINE FORM
25 year-old Jess Turner will be Derbyshire’s only representative inside the athletics stadium for the Tokyo Olympics, but is certainly one of the most in-form Derbyshire Olympians from any sport heading into the Games.
The Derby 400m hurdler has had a fantastic season despite the numerous setbacks within the past 18 months. Whilst the 400m hurdles is Turner’s specialist event, she has also been included in Team GB’s 4x400m relay squad which has a genuine chance of securing a medal. In short, there is plenty to look forward to at the Games for the former European U23 silver medallist.
When I last spoke to Jess in 2020, things were very different. The UK had just moved out of its first lockdown and Turner spoke to me in detail about how badly disrupted her training had been and how relieved she was that the Olympics had been postponed until next year. When athletics stadiums and gyms were still closed during the first lockdown and when the Tokyo Games had not been postponed yet, Turner legitimately had to pretend to run over hurdles on grass as part of an Olympics training programme. Needless to say, there has never been an Olympics like this before in terms of how to approach your preparation:
“It was obviously a very different state of affairs, the last time we spoke. At that time, I’d only just been able to go into the gym and onto a running track. I just really knuckled down as soon as were allowed back into these places when some of the first restrictions were lifted. I knew what my goals for this season were. That was to make it to the Olympics team. So I just knuckled down and got the work done. That’s what has made me reach this point now. I’m definitely on the right path. There’s certainly been some big challenges along the way. I was out injured for two months during the last winter season with a knee problem. It really is a rollercoaster being an athlete! You’re in great shape and then something happens out of nowhere. It’s just up and down all the time, it’s never plain sailing. I managed to overcome all of that in the winter and then I pretty much went straight back into competitive racing afterwards. My first couple of races back weren’t great; they weren’t anything special. For me, it does take a few races for me to get back into the rhythm of things again. I only actually did one hurdles race in the whole of 2020. But then I competed in a race in Belgium and everything just clicked and fell into place. The conditions were perfect and it was a quick track. I just got it right on the day. Since then, I seem to have been able to replicate that in every race afterwards. I’ve been running PB’s, it’s been amazing. After the run in Belgium, I looked at the timer and saw that I’d got a massive PB and then immediately realised that the time was also an Olympic qualifying time. I thought, what have I just done! I was just shocked. As soon as I finished that race, I picked up the phone and rang my parents and said, ‘you’ll never guess what I’ve just done!’ That was pretty cool. That race has certainly opened up a lot of opportunities for me. I was able to travel round Europe a little bit more for a few more races. That then opened up Diamond League meetings for me. I was able to compete in my first ever Diamond League race in Florence, which was amazing and I also ran another really quick time there. I’m hoping to run in the Gateshead Diamond League meeting this month just before the Olympics begins. It’s just been a great season for me. I’ve massively enjoyed it.”
It’s a hugely impressive achievement from Turner to have had such a great season so far considering all the obstacles she’s had to overcome. I asked Jess just how much of a relief it was for her when the IOC announced that they would be postponing the Games by a year and also whether the extra year’s wait may have even been a blessing in disguise for her:
“Yeah, 100%. If it had gone ahead as originally scheduled last year, I’m not sure I would have qualified for the Games, because the preparation was so badly disrupted. The postponement of the Olympics was a relief to be honest and a blessing in disguise. It allowed me to just do what I could with my training while lockdown restrictions were in place. To be honest, I feel quite lucky that the Olympics is just happening at all. There were quite a lot of rumours at the start of 2021, that the Olympics might be postponed again or that it would be cancelled altogether. I’m just very grateful that it is still all going ahead.”
As has already been reported several times, this Olympics won’t feel very much like an Olympics at times. The main reason is simply because of the expected lack of fans. With Japan’s vaccination programme still running behind nations like the UK and with the majority of Japan’s population being against the Olympics going ahead on safety grounds, crowds aren’t expected to be very high at all. Unfortunately, iconic moments such as Mo Farah winning his first gold medal in 2012 or Cathy Freeman’s gold medal winning run at the Sydney Games where the crowds were sent into raptures will simply not be replicated in Tokyo, no matter what happens. I asked Jess whether the expected lack of spectators will have an effect on competing athletes inside the stadium:
“I think it will be a massive shame if there isn’t going to be a big crowd. It’s an amazing feeling when you’re running with a huge crowd cheering you on. I remember when I was at London in 2017 for the World Championships, the whole stadium was packed. When the whole crowd was cheering, it just lifted you. So I think it will be a real shame if attendances are low and it will be quite odd for an Olympic Games to be so quiet. It will be very different. But you’ve just got to remember that there will be an awful lot of people watching from back home. So even though you can’t hear it, you’ve just got to remember the support is there. I’m still getting the chance to race at an Olympics which is what I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid.”
Turner also tells me that her training schedule is being seriously ramped up at this critical point just a few weeks ahead of the Games. It also appears though that a different tactic is being tested out to see if Turner can slice off more time from her PB at the Games itself:
“Yeah, 100%. The way my coach has geared my training programme is so that I can peak at just the right moment which will be at the Olympics. So everything I’m doing now is leading to me to be able to perform at my ultimate best for these Games. So I’m doing a lot of different sessions at the moment. These last few days have been a whirlwind. It’s been a bit non-stop with media after the National Trials finished. I then picked up my official Team GB kit. It’s felt like I’ve not fully recovered from winning the National Trials because of all the excitement that surrounded it and what the victory meant. There will be a lot of gym work now for the next two weeks. Potentially, I will do one more race before the Games which would be the Diamond League meeting at Gateshead. That race would actually be a good chance to try something new, because I still feel like I can run faster if I change something about my approach. So that may be worth trying this new thing out rather than actually trying it for the first time at the Olympics, just to see if it works. If it doesn’t then that’s fine, I can just revert to my approach before the Games actually begins.”
Another huge difference between the upcoming Tokyo Games and all the other modern day Games before it, is in regards to the athletes experience while at the host venue. Due to obvious Coronavirus restrictions which will be in place, athletes must adhere to strict rules and keep within tight bubbles at all times. Exploration of the Olympics Village and of the host city itself simply cannot be a feature of these Olympic Games. Whilst the debate rages on as to whether these Olympic Games should really be taking place, there’s no doubt that these Games simply cannot escape and detach itself completely from the strange times we still live in:
“We’ve not received the full information yet, but I think I’ll be arriving in Tokyo possibly up to two weeks before the athletics starts at the Games. This is because we need time to acclimatise to the conditions there and the time difference. You are going to be restricted to your bubbles as soon as you get there. I very much doubt that people from one sport can mix at all with people from other sports, which is fair enough. I guess that’s another shame really as we won’t really have full freedom to explore the Olympics village or the freedom to explore Tokyo in general really, but again, it’s fair enough considering Tokyo have still been able to get this Games on while the pandemic is still around and we need to make sure we abide by the rules that they’ve set.”
Jess says she is hoping to reach the final of the 400m hurdles event. As mentioned before though, this is not the only event Jess will be participating in. The 4x400m women’s relay team is considered by many sources to be a very strong contender for a medal and this is echoed by Turner herself. Confidence is said to be very high for this event and, who knows, perhaps we will actually see Derbyshire end up claiming a gold medal inside the athletics track. Turner’s season has gone like a dream so far and she is absolutely a Derbyshire athlete to keep an eye on at the Tokyo Games, as something very special could be on the horizon here.
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