Letter: Olympic honour

Lucinda Cameron's excellent article on George Kerr CBE (31 December) is a wonderful tribute to an outstanding sportsman and personality, a great example of Scottish achievement.

However, I am not so sure about her statement that George Kerr is "the only Briton to coach an Olympic champion". There was at least one other - my grandfather, Colonel Bruce Turnbull (1880-1952).

He served with the British Indian Army in Waziristan in a Sikh regiment and took part in the 1904 Younghusband Expedition to Lhasa, Tibet, where he was mentioned in dispatches for carrying a wounded comrade to safety while under fire. A number of Tibetan artefacts which he brought back to Edinburgh are now in the Royal Scottish Museum.

After the First World War he was appointed Inspector of Physical Training in India. He was elected the first president of the All India Hockey Federation upon its inception in 1925 and coached the Indian hockey team to Olympic Gold in Amsterdam three years later, becoming the first British citizen to be involved with the International Hockey Federation (FIH) as a member of the technical committee (1932) and the FIH council (1928-32). He was president of the Scottish Hockey Association (1935-37).

After retiring from the Indian army he served as an Edinburgh councillor and was awarded the CBE.

MICHAEL TURNBULL

Orchard Court

Longniddry, East Lothian