| Tadeusz Teodorowicz | |
| Nationality: | Polish / British |
| Birth Place: | Vilnius, Poland |
| 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 |
Tadeusz Teodorowicz (1931-1965) also known as Teo was an international speedway rider from Poland and Great Britain.[1] He earned 5 international caps for the Poland national speedway team.[2]
Teodorowicz rode in the top tier of British Speedway from 1959-1964, riding for Swindon Robins.[3] He was capped by both Poland and Great Britain and reached the final of the European Championship in 1956.[4]
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. 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.[5]
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. 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.[6]
Rider deaths in motorcycle speedway