1976 Winter Olympics medal table these Games, Great Britain's last Winter Olympic medal had been a gold at the 1964 Games, also held in Innsbruck. Twelve years later in the same city, the British team won again a single gold medal, this time by figure skater John Curry in the men's singles with a still-standing record total score. The two bronze medals won by Swedish athletes were not enough to prevent this team's performance from becoming the weakest ever in the nation's Winter Olympic history. Andorra and San Marino sent their first delegations to the Winter Olympics, whereas the Republic of China competed for the
John Curry to take figure skating lessons under the guidance of Ken Vickers at the Summerhill Road rink in Birmingham. After his father died of tuberculosis, 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. Fassi coached Curry to European, World, and Olympic titles in 1976. In the same year, he was the flag bearer at the Winter Olympics for Great Britain and was voted BBC