Even when apartheid confined Turnbull, then a senior coach in South Africa, and the man he believes would have won a medal, Matthews Temane, to the roles of spectators at the inaugural world championships in Helsinki in 1983, Turnbull accepted his lot.

“World athletics allowed us to attend but only as spectators,” Turnbull recalled. 

“We knew what their times were but they couldn’t compete. What can you do? That's life. 

“In those days you didn’t compete internationally, you had no chance to shift up a gear and improve your running performance.

“Everybody [in South Africa] just accepted it,” he added of the international sporting boycott that robbed South Africa’s elite athletes of the chance to compete on the international stage. 

Long before Turnbull emigrated to Australia and coached Orange Emus to four straight Central West Rugby Union premierships, he was one of his native South Africa’s top athletics coaches during a golden era of long-distance running in the country.

And to show South Africa has not forgotten Turnbull’s contribution to the sport, he will be inducted into the South African Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame next month.

With a background in exercise physiology, Turnbull started coaching athletics while teaching at university in 1979.

Among his celebrated athletes was marathon runner Willie Mtolo, who won the national title under Turnbull’s guidance in 1989 and later the famed New York Marathon in 1992.

Turnbull formed a special bond with Temane, who won a record seven 5000-metre national titles and also set a world best half-marathon time of one hour and 11 seconds in 1987.

Temane’s street mile time of 3.46.8 in 1986 remains the fastest mile in South African history.

“He was probably the most talented athlete I've ever coached,” said Turnbull, who attained the highest coaching qualification in South Africa.

For all of his success - Turnbull coached in his spare time “for the love of it” - winning was only part of the equation.

“The satisfaction comes from being able to analyse individual athletes to reach a potential they strive for,” he said.