John Anthony Curry, (9 September 1949 – 15 April 1994) was a British figure skater. He was the 1976 European, Olympic and World Champion. He was noted for combining ballet and modern dance influences into his skating. Early life Curry was born on 9 September 1949 in Birmingham, England. He had two older brothers. He was educated at Solihull School, a private school in the West Midlands and prior to this, at St Andrews, an independent boarding school in Somerset. As a child, Curry wanted to become a dancer, but his father disapproved of dance as an activity for boys. As a compromise, in 1957, he began to take figure skating lessons under the guidance of Ken Vickers at the Summerhill Road rink in Birmingham. Skating career After his father died from suicide when John was 16, he moved to London to study with Arnold Gerschwiler, who coached him to his first British title in 1971. In 1972 Curry found an American sponsor who enabled him to study in the United States with Gus Lussi and Carlo Fassi. Competitive career Fassi coached Curry to European, World, and Olympic titles in 1976. He also won the British championships that year, giving him the coveted Grand Slam in figure skating with his four major titles in 1976. In the same year he was the flag bearer at the Winter Olympics for Great Britain and was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1976. He was the first male figure skater from Great Britain to win Olympic gold. As an amateur competitor, Curry was noted for his ballet-like posture and extension, and his superb body control. Along with Canadian skater Toller Cranston, Curry was responsible for bringing the artistic and presentation aspects of men's figure skating to a new level. At the peak of his competitive career, Curry was also accomplished both at compulsory figures and the athletic (jumping) aspects of free skating. During his 1976 Olympic free skate he successfully landed a triple toe loop, a triple Salchow and a triple loop jump. His performance is known to have garnered the highest score ever given during the era of the 6.0 scoring in figure skating. He earned 105.9 points out of a possible 108 points from a panel of 9 international judges. Only the judges from Canada and the Soviet Union did not place him first. The judges' decisions are noteworthy