WI: Alan Turing at the 1948 Olympics?

A lesser-known fact about Alan Turing was his athletic capability. He was brilliant at long-distance running, at times running all the way from Bletchley Park to London for high-level meetings, and even tried out for the British Olympic team at the 1948 London Games, and got one of the best times, but did not get in due to an injury. If you've seen "The Imitation Game" this was referenced in the scenes showing him running.

Suppose, then, that this injury didn't happen and he made it into the team? How would he have done? Would his life had taken a different turn? And what of his trial and conviction? How would this have affected everything in general?

HongCanucker said:

A lesser-known fact about Alan Turing was his athletic capability. He was brilliant at long-distance running, at times running all the way from Bletchley Park to London for high-level meetings, and even tried out for the British Olympic team at the 1948 London Games, and got one of the best times, but did not get in due to an injury. If you've seen "The Imitation Game" this was referenced in the scenes showing him running.

Suppose, then, that this injury didn't happen and he made it into the team? How would he have done? Would his life had taken a different turn? And what of his trial and conviction? How would this have affected everything in general?

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I'm inclined to imagine that this wouldn't affect anything at all. Long-distance running isn't prominent enough to get his name anything like the domestic or international recognition that would have been necessary to get the British government to treat him differently.

HongCanucker said:

A lesser-known fact about Alan Turing was his athletic capability. He was brilliant at long-distance running, at times running all the way from Bletchley Park to London for high-level meetings, and even tried out for the British Olympic team at the 1948 London Games, and got one of the best times, but did not get in due to an injury. If you've seen "The Imitation Game" this was referenced in the scenes showing him running.

Suppose, then, that this injury didn't happen and he made it into the team? How would he have done? Would his life had taken a different turn? And what of his trial and conviction? How would this have affected everything in general?

Click to expand...

In 1948 Turning joined Newman's lab in Manchester to develop the Manchester computers. Now, if Turing qualified for the national team, not getting this injury, then he would have delayed his work in this field. However, with him in the public eye, if he wins a Bronze, Silver or even Gold, then he is facing increasing scrutiny from the press that could lead to his homosexuality being revealed earlier. Given how the Government treated him even though he was an important figure during the war, a lot of what happened to him will probably happen; the question is in this TL does he choose Chemical Castration or Prison. On a positive, an increased scrutiny can also lead to a promotion in computer technology (Alan Turing, Athlete currently working on Manchester Computers...). The real question is what would this do to the British LGBT community? And, given how unpopular the decriminalization was, could Turing's appearance cause decriminalization earlier or later?

shiftygiant said:

However, with him in the public eye, if he wins a Bronze, Silver or even Gold, then he is facing increasing scrutiny from the press that could lead to his homosexuality being revealed earlier.

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I think this is unlikely. There have always been people in prominent circles - actors, politicians, other celebrities - where it was an open secret that they were homosexual. It just wasn't reported provided the person did not engage in open scandalous conduct. In other words, if it wasn't already known publicly - then people usually kept it secret. It's the same thing as media not reporting on FDR's paralysis or a politician's womanizing. Lots of things were kept hidden by the press at the time. Only if a scandal had already broke and the cat out of the bag would the media begin revealing these kinds of personal facts.

So even if there was enough scrutiny for individual reporters to figure out Turing was gay, it would be highly unlikely for this to be revealed to the public at this time. As long as it was kept discrete, the news would respect the man's privacy. It's all very hypocritical, but generally true.

Eventually there'd be scandal sheets that reported any true (or even dubious) scandals about celebrities, but Turing's name would still be so obscure that it would still likely be ignored because circulation isn't going to go up for a lesser known Olympian, even if he did win a medal.

If Turing had not effectively self-reported himself to the authorities during his burgling complaint, he likely would never have been arrested, much less convicted and sentenced to chemical castration.