Tadeusz Teodorowicz

{{Infobox Speedway rider

| name = Tadeusz Teodorowicz

| image =

| nationality = Polish / British

| birth_date = {{birth date text|17 June 1931}}

| birth_place = Vilnius, Poland

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1965|1|21|1931|6|17|df=y}}

| death_place = Swindon, England

| career1 = Poland

| career2 = Gwardia Gdynia

| years2 = 1950

| career3 = Spójnia Wrocław

| years3 = 1951–1957

| career4 = Great Britain

| career5 = Swindon Robins

| years5 = 1959-1964

| indivyear1 = 1963

| indivhonour1 = World final reserve

| indivyear2 = 1956

| indivhonour2 = European Championship finalist

| indivyear3 = 1964

| indivhonour3 = British Championship finalist

| teamyear1 =

| teamhonour1 =

}}

Tadeusz Teodorowicz (1931–1965) also known as Teo was an international speedway rider from Poland and Great Britain.{{cite web |url=https://customhousekid.webs.com/inmemoriam.htm|title=In Memoriam|website=Custom House Kid|access-date=21 July 2021}} He earned 5 international caps for the Poland national speedway team.{{cite web |url=https://britishspeedway.co.uk/docs/Ultimate_Index_1929-2022.pdf |title=Ultimate Rider Index, 1929-2022 |website=British Speedway |access-date=7 March 2024}}

Speedway career

Teodorowicz rode in the top tier of British Speedway from 1959 to 1964, riding for Swindon Robins.{{cite web |url=https://www.speedwaygb.co.uk/historyarchive|title=History Archive|website=British Speedway|access-date=21 July 2021}} He was capped by both Poland and Great Britain and reached the final of the European Championship in 1956.{{cite web|url=http://www.speedway.org/history/|title=HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK|website=Speedway.org|access-date=21 July 2021}}

He would eventually become a British citizen after escaping and seeking political asylum from the communist East while on a tour of the Netherlands in September 1958.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000844/19600710/112/0031 |title=Protest |website=Sunday Mirror |date=10 July 1960 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=8 September 2024}} He spent four months in prison before gaining a Dutch passport and then moved to England. In England, he married Liliana Zajecka-Slonina, a local Swindon nurse of Polish origin. In 1963 he finished eighth in the British Championships, sealing a reserve spot at the final of the 1963 Individual Speedway World Championship. The following year he reached the final of the British Speedway Championship in 1964.{{cite web|url=http://www.speedway.org/history/|title=HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK|website=Speedway.org|access-date=30 March 2022}}

He was in the best form of his career at the time and then tragedy struck when he suffered major head trauma in a match while riding for Swindon Robins against West Ham Hammers.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000769/19650122/884/0065 |title=Speedway star dies at Swindon |website=Coventry Evening Telegraph |date=22 January 1965 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=10 October 2024 }} The match was held at the West Ham Stadium on 1 September 1964 and Teo was left with a skull fracture following a crash into the fence, this caused him to go into a coma. He was transferred to a London hospital and then moved to Swindon before he died several months later from Pneumonia, on 21 January 1965.{{cite web|url=http://motorsportmemorial.org/focus.php?db=ms&n=3147|title=Tad "Teo" Teodorowicz|website=Motosport Memorial|access-date=21 July 2021}}