John Curry

John Curry grew up in Birmingham and wanted to be a dancer, but his father did not think dancing was suitable for a boy. Figure skating was accepted as a compromise, and Curry began skating at the age of seven. After his father’s death he moved to London and later trained in the United States with the coaches Gus Lussi and Carlo Fassi. He also took ballet lessons.

Curry brought the movements and lines of classical ballet onto the ice. In 1976 he won everything: the British, European and World titles and Olympic gold in Innsbruck, with a free skate to music from the ballet “Don Quixote”. He was the first British man to win Olympic gold in figure skating and was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

During the Olympic Games, a newspaper reported that Curry was gay; he confirmed it at a press conference. In elite sport in the 1970s this was almost unheard of. Curry did not hide, but turned professional and founded his own ice-dance company, for which choreographers such as Twyla Tharp and Kenneth MacMillan created works. He also appeared on Broadway.

In 1987 he was diagnosed with HIV, and in 1991 with AIDS. He spoke openly about it at a time when most people kept silent. Curry died at his mother’s home in Warwickshire in 1994, aged 44. A blue plaque marks the house in Birmingham where he grew up.