'Bend the knees and keep the back straight'

Back in 1976 the consummate figure skater John Curry, who would have been 60 years old today, won Britain's first Olympic gold in the sport - the UK's first medal at the winter games for 12 years (and he scored the highest points total in the history of men's figure skating). I remember it well, and the hysteria which surrounded this lithe man and his near-perfect grace on the rink.

Mr Curry, who had longed to become a ballet dancer (despite his father's refusal to let him), fused for the very first time the artistic styles of ballet into his skating and created a new way forward for the event - even though the sport's traditionally-focussed governing body criticised his "graceful" [read="effeminate"] technique.

And it seems that these stuffed shirts of the establishment set an unhealthy precedent, as the gay sporting hero was thenceforth subjected to typically bigoted and intrusive tabloid interest in his personal life, which distanced the public from his triumphal successes and may well have contributed to a homophobic assault he suffered in the late 70s.

Despite a couple of TV spectaculars and numerous balletic stage productions in Europe and in the US, the appeal of his ice dance shows waned and commercial success eluded him. In 1987 he was diagnosed HIV positive, and in the 90s his condition declined. According to recently published information he apparently died in 1994 in the arms of his lover at the time, the Oscar-winning actor Alan Bates - which in itself is quite a revelation.

RIP, a genuine sporting legend.

John Curry 1976 Innsbruck Olympics

John Curry obituary