7th September 2014 08:00
Eventually he composed himself and as the gun fired for the final time on Saturday, the result of the 110m hurdles did not matter as he finished behind Dayron Robles and Will Sharman.
As he turned to walk back down the man-made track by the side of the River Tyne at the GreatCity Games in Gateshead, he was showered with champagne by so many of his British teammates who were waiting for him to say a special goodbye. The retirement party had begun.
'I can't describe the emotions I felt leading up to that race,' said Turner. 'I thought I would be fine, I thought I would be excited to race and that would be it but they started to play the slow music and show montages and it got me. I welled up. It was amazing.”
At 33, he is bowing out from the sport because he feels the time is right.
He has had a superb career, having reached the heights of winning gold in the 110m hurdles at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona in 2010, the year where he also became the Commonwealth Games champion in New Delhi.
The summer after that he won bronze at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu and twice triumphed over the barriers at the European Athletics Team Championships, in Leiria in 2009 and Stockholm in 2011.
His race was the last track event of these Games and he lapped up every moment.
Drying the champagne on his face with his top, he then removed his spikes and handed each one to a separate fan crammed by the side of the track. He did the same with his race number and then took a sip from what was left from the bottles of bubbly that had been poured over him.
It was a memorable farewell and as Jenny Meadows, the 2011 800m European Athletics Indoor champion, said: “He is just one of the most popular members of the team. People have trains and flights to catch but no-one wanted to miss this moment.”
Turner summed up his career by saying: “I am not the most talented of athletes, I am not the most naturally gifted of people. I am a person who worked unbelievably hard. I have given it everything I can, I am an average guy, who grafted and grinded and who had a dream.”
A dream that brought him to the top of the sport and one that saw him say farewell on Saturday, on an occasion he will never forget.