Swindon’s Commonwealth silver medal winning star talks about his plans for the future after retiring last year at the age of 25

Grant Turner the swimmer was pretty handy in the pool, delivering on all of his promises to rack up a fine sub-50 second third leg in the 4x100m freestyle relay, helping England seal second spot on the podium at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Grant Turner the swimmer donned a Team GB kit at London 2012 and claimed his own personal piece of history as one of the 541 British competitors to represent their country at a record third home summer Olympics.

But almost exactly a year ago, aged 25, Grant Turner the swimmer announced his retirement from swimming.

The days of elite-level competition against the finest aquatic athletes on the globe had come to an end for the Swindon Olympian and he was facing up to the prospect of transforming into just Grant Turner.

But the former Swindon Tigersharks man has maintained a close affinity with the water and ensured that the title of Grant Turner the swimmer remains perfectly precise.

After moving to Australia’s Gold Coast on a scholarship organised by British Swimming to work with coach Chris Nesbitt at the age of 16 and diving head-first into top-class competition in 2008, Turner was a relative veteran by the time of his retirement in 2014.

A 16-year-old Turner prior to his move Down Under

Saying goodbye to competing in the sport that has defined your entire existence can be an agonising, near-impossible divorce to come to terms with.

But today, regret is an emotion far from Grant Turner the swimmer’s mind.

“I was always known as Grant Turner the swimmer and in a lot of ways, I’ll always be Grant Turner the swimmer but at the same time, I’m almost trying to make a new identity for myself,” says the former Bradon Forest School pupil.

“I decided to call it a day last year. In the six months before that, the enjoyment of the sport was starting to go and the body wasn’t able to cope with the training as well as it previously had done.

“I got to a stage where I didn’t want to resent the sport that had given me so much and after a lot of thought, I decided that it was time to walk away.

“Our sport is all about the Olympics – that’s the pinnacle for us and I was very fortunate to compete at London 2012.

“I guess that you have to be realistic in life and my performances had also begun to plateau with two-and-a-half years to go until Rio.

“Now that I’ve done it (retired), there’s no doubt in my mind that it was the right decision.

“It’s strange because you can have it in your mind, but it doesn’t really become real until you release it to the media and tell people.

“I’d spoken to my partner about it a lot and she was very supportive and I also spoke a lot to my mum (Anita) and dad (Roger), and Phil Millard, who was my coach at Tigersharks and is a coach that I hold in high regard, not just as a coach but as a friend and mentor.

“When I tell people that I’d retired by the age of 26, a lot of people think that sounds really soon.

“But I’d been in the sport for such a long time. I moved to Australia when I was 16, moving away from my family for two-and-a-half years.

“I made my senior debut at such a young age and I’d been competing for such a long time. Starting at 16 really took its toll on the body.

“I know that a lot of athletes find it tough when they retire, but I’ve kept myself busy and I’m happy.”

Turner posing with Adam Brown, Liam Tancock and Simon Burnett after their silver medal success at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi

One of the legacies Turner holds most dear from his swimming career is his relationship with three-time Olympian Jo Jackson, who became his fiancée on New Year’s Eve in 2013.

The couple are now based in the Midlands and 28-year-old Jackson, who won 400m freestyle bronze behind Rebecca Adlington at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, has also become Turner’s business partner, with the duo running the Joanne Jackson Swimming Academy.

But that isn’t where the Swindon star’s post-career relationship with the pool ends.

Turner says: “It’s a new chapter in my life and it’s been a gentle transition.

“For the first six months after I retired, I was working for the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust as an athlete mentor and it was something completely different to anything I’d done before.

“It was working with young people between the ages of 16 and 25 that perhaps didn’t get on with mainstream education and it involved working on a number of projects with different people.

“Kelly Holmes is obviously a fantastic athlete and it was something that was great to be a part of.

“Then Jo and I started up the academy and that was a way of giving something back to the sport. It was going right back to grass roots.

“We go to different clubs around the UK and help competitive swimmers improve, whether that just be working on a start or a turn, and we also have our ‘learn to swim’ sessions based in the Midlands.

“Swimming is the only sport that can save your life and teaching people to swim is so rewarding.

“We had a lad that came to us, who was three years old and wouldn’t get anywhere near the water at first without getting hysterical.

“Now he’s swimming widths on his front and widths on his back – that’s what it’s all about.

“I also started a new job in January. I’m the European marketing manager for an American kit manufacturer called FINIS.

“I think the fact that I was a swimmer attracted them to me and I spend a lot of my time on the road, travelling around the UK or flying around Western Europe.

“Travelling to new places is something that I miss already from when I competed so it’s great for me that I’ve got that back.

“It’s still related to swimming but it’s exciting and every day has been different and exciting so far.”

Grant Turner the Olympian, an experience he was lucky enough to share with fiance Jo Jackson

Jet-setter Turner certainly has his hands full now that he spends the majority of his time on dry land and he has a date in his diary potentially even more nerve-wracking than any of the times he made the heart-pounding walk from the locker rooms to starting block.

On August 15, the Swindon Olympian will once again stride with purpose in front of a crowd of expectant onlookers - but the walk will be down the aisle as he ties the knot with Jackson.

Some relationships struggle under the strain of the unrelenting demands of elite athletic careers, but when two swim stars are involved Turner and his bride-to-be were far from fishing in troubled waters.

“I’ve been with Jo eight years and we’re getting married in Leicestershire,” says Turner.

“I’m from Swindon and Jo’s from North Yorkshire, so it’s slap-bang in the middle for both our families to get there and it’s about 40 minutes away from where we live.

“Life has been hectic with planning a wedding, but it’s obviously something to look forward to.

“Athletes are a funny breed because they have to be extremely selfish in life – that can be difficult for a relationship.

“If I wasn’t with someone else that was an athlete too, it might be difficult. But if I was at home at a weekend and didn’t want to get out of bed, she’d understand. She’d also understand why I had to go away on a training camp and not see her for six weeks because she might have to do the same.

“I’m lucky to have Jo. It was great when we both went away to competitions together and we’re extremely lucky to have gone to the London Olympics together.”

This summer, Grant Turner the swimmer will become Grant Turner the husband.