Talk:John Curry

Which one of these statements are true??

In 1987, Curry was diagnosed with HIV. He was diagnosed with AIDS in 1991.--McNoddy 11:45, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

• http://figureskating.about.com/od/olympicchampions/p/johncurry.htm. removed second statement--McNoddy 11:49, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

McNoddy -- AIDS and HIV are not synonyms. Both statements are true.Cross Reference 03:56, 7 October 2007 (UTC)

When was John Curry outed by Bild?

I'm participating in a discussion on Talk:Matthew Mitcham about whether Curry was outed by Bild before, or after, his 1976 Olympic gold medal win. Curry won his gold medal in Innsbruck, Austria on February 11, 1976.[1] According to Curry's current Wikipedia biography, he was outed by Bild before the 1976 Figure Skating World Championships, which themselves occurred "shortly after" the Olympic Games in Gothenberg, Sweden.[2]

Unfortunately, GLBT memories are fallible. Though he was outed on the continent in early 1976, it doesn't seem logical that Bild would expose Curry in its pages before the Olympic Games, since he was still relatively unknown to the public then (and to the German-speaking public, at that). It was his gold medal win, I suspect, which propelled him to worldwide cultural prominence and which probably gave the German tabloid incentive to expose him. Patricia Nell Warren apparently remembers a press conference, very possibly on the continent, in which Curry acknowledged his homosexuality,[3] and the online GLBTQ.com encyclopedia, itself not always a reliable source, tells us that Curry was out before the 1976 Olympics and that "upon his return to Britain he spoke openly about his sexuality."[4] Are Warren and GLBTQ.com propagating a myth about Curry competing as an 'out' athlete at the Olympics? Curiously, the GLBTQ article doesn't even mention the Bild outing.

Can anyone here shed light on this debate, and perhaps supply the date of that Bild article, or determine when and where Curry first acknowledged to the press that he was gay? —Soccerbawl (talk) 19:44, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

The story is told in Toller Cranston's book, Zero Tollerance. Cranston says of 1976 Worlds: "I had not laid eyes on John Curry since the Olympic medal ceremony. During his press conference, he had confirmed to the world that he was gay. [...] I didn't see the British press, but I saw the European press (particularly Bild-Zeitung, the German answer to the National Enquirer). John's acknowledgement had caused a huge scandal." So, according to Cranston's account, Curry outed himself *at* the Olympics, immediately after his win. I've also seen video documentaries about Curry that mentioned that, while he was being honored at various receptions and such like after the Olympics, at the same time he was being made the target of bad jokes and insults about his sexuality. Dr.frog (talk) 02:30, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

In short, that confirms what I had deduced from online evidence. Curry did not compete at the Olympics as an 'out' athlete, but came out afterwards (never hiding it, as he reiterated in 1992 to the Daily Mail).[5] From what you've conveyed, the press conference may have even occurred in Innsbruck—or was it in Gothenberg, after he arrived at the Worlds? Gothenberg makes more sense. Does the book make it clear?

So are we sure that Bild published before, not after, that press conference? Did Bild reporters attend because they had just outed him, or did they out him based on what he said to the reporters? The chronology still suggests that the press conference followed an outing in print. I would still like to know the date Bild outed Curry, as well as the precise date(s) of the 1976 Worlds. Thanks for your very helpful reply. —Soccerbawl (talk) 04:43, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

You might check out the archived video available at http://www.frogsonice.com/skateweb/videos.shtml . Curry's outing is covered in part 2 of "The Real John Curry" and part 4 of the 1987 "Maestro" interview. In the latter, he names John Vincour of the Associated Press as the journalist who first "outed" him. I think it's clear from both Cranston's account and "The Real John Curry" that the press conference in question took place at the Olympics but after Curry had won his event.Dr.frog (talk) 14:23, 30 August 2008 (UTC)