John Curry was a sporting genius and innovator tortured by nerves and his sexuality. He overcame the former, but never escaped the torment of the latter, personally and from others in a less liberal age.

Curry's father forbade ballet lessons which he felt inappropriate for a boy. So Curry turned to figure skating, and won Olympic gold 32 years ago today in Innsbruck. The following month he took the world title, first Brit to do so in 37 years, and he also held the European crown simultaneously. However, he feared his homosexuality could destroy his career. It did not, and his candour on the subject was brave, but it caused his premature death. He was just 44 when he succumbed to AIDS-related heart problems in the arms of actor Alan Bates, in 1994.

Curry was beyond doubt a thwarted dancer, and eventually did bring ballet to his art. John had wanted to attend ballet classes at the age of five, but his father, an engineer and factory owner, felt this was not for boys. When John saw the Wembley Christmas ice show at the age of seven, he was captivated. Father accepted skating as a competitive sport, and his son excelled.

His father died when he was 16, and Curry moved to London and started the banned ballet lessons. They helped him elevate artistic impression and presentation to new heights, and his Olympic men's mark of 105.9 from a possible 108 was never surpassed.

But his early career was dogged by nerves, which often caused him to fall. He cured this with Erhard seminars, nicknamed "no-piss" therapy, because sessions often lasted all day, without breaks.

Immediately before the 1976 Olympics, he had been outed by a German tabloid, Bild-Zeitung. Returning with Britain's only gold, Curry spoke candidly. "Up to last year, I had fears that judges were thinking: There's a gay. We can't let him win.' But they were there to judge my skating style, not my lifestyle." However, he said that earlier judges had told him "not to be so graceful."

Curry was the victim of unprovoked assault, and was even insulted by a comedian and journalists when crowned sports personality of the year.

He turned pro, choreo-graphing his own shows, but in December 1987 was diagnosed HIV positive. During one of his final interviews, he said he had been "ashamed - I think I was wrong to be - but I was ashamed of having contracted a sexually transmitted disease."

He developed skin cancer in 1991 and returned from Switzerland where he had been living with friends, to be near his mother. He said then: "I can't look back on my life and say: If only I'd been able to do this.' I actually did it. I had everything and enjoyed every moment of it."

Bates claimed several years later, shortly before his own death, that the pair had had a two-year affair.

Robin Cousins, tenth behind Curry in 1976, went on to take gold in the next Winter Olympics.