British motorcycling legend Barry Sheene died from cancer at 52 today. 10 March 2003 (aged 52)
The twice-world motorcycling champion, famous for repeatedly defying death on the track, passed away after suffering the disease for eight months. He died peacefully at a hospital on Queensland's Gold Coast with his family by his side.
His death marks the end of one of the most daring and distinguished careers in motorcycle racing, which saw him awarded an MBE in 1978 and recover after a 175mph crash that broke nearly every bone.
In a similar manner, he had vowed to fight his illness after learning that it had affected his stomach and throat in July. He decided to avoid conventional chemotherapy in favour of a "natural" cure that involved relying entirely on a diet of fruit and vegetable juices.
His reliance on the cure, designed by Austrian healer Rudolf Breuss to "starveî a cancer of nourishment, sparked concerns that he would be better off using conventional treatments as well. However, he said in an interview in August: "I've made a decision about not doing chemotherapy and that's it. I'm putting my faith in the natural way."
Sheene became the best-known face of British motorcycling during the Seventies, winning the World Motorcycle Championships in 1976 and 1977. He was regarded as nearly immortal on the track, notching up so many high-speed crashes that at one stage he had metal plates in both knees, and 28 screws in his legs and his left wrist.
Off the track his reputation was no less glamorous, his good looks making him a pin-up for girls and a role model for boys.
He lived his personal life in the fast lane, socialising with friends such as James Hunt, Ringo Starr and George Harrison, drinking and smoking heavily. At 10, the East Ender was allowed to park the Jaguars and Rolls-Royces of surgeons at the Royal College of Surgeons, where his father was an engineer.
Once he began his motorcycling racing career, he had a meteoric rise, thanks to a lack of fear, reaching speeds of up to 200mph. After his 175mph crash in practice for the Daytona 200, he was said to have woken up in hospital and asked the nurse for "a fag".
He crashed again in 1982 practising for the British Grand Prix, turning his legs into a "jigsaw puzzle" that took surgeons eight hours to realign. Asked by a BBC interviewer what went through his mind during a crash, he famously replied: "Your arse, if you're going fast enough."
After his later crash he moved to Australia to recover, amid fears he would never walk again. But he began working as a TV commentator and returned to the track as a veteran during the Nineties. His only visible sign of injury was that the top of one finger was missing.
After discovering he had cancer, he made a promise to his two children and former model English wife Stephanie that he would beat the "nasty, evil disease" his way.
Only last November, he took part in a veterans' race at Goodwood, his last appearance before retiring. Sheene was due to have waved the chequered flag at yesterday's Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne.
Today the motor racing world paid tribute. Four-times World Superbike champion Carl Fogerty said: "He packed more into his 52 years than most people put into 100 years."
His former publicist, Andrew Marriott, said: "I suppose you would say he was a little bit of a rogue ... but he also spoke four languages, including Japanese, so he could speak to the technicians at Suzuki - he was a very clever man."
Commentator Murray Walker said: "Barry Sheene was not only one of the most brilliant motor racing cyclists who has ever lived, but he was a lovely man.
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