It was Valentine’s Day in 1984 when they skated to victory at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics, winning the gold medal and earning the highest ever score for a single performance.
And now, 40 years later, Jayne Torvill, 66, and Christopher Dean, 65, are hanging up their skates for good as they have announced their retirement.
The British skating duo will embark on one final UK tour next year, which will be their swansong and mark 50 years since they formed their skating partnership in 1975.
Dean said that the pair had agreed it was the ‘right time’ to stop skating as they are ‘not spring chickens anymore’ and want to walk away while they’re still able to do it ‘to a certain degree.’
The pair became international stars after receiving 12 perfect 6’s while skating to Maurice Ravel’s Boléro at the Zetra Olympic Hall in Sarajevo, prompting a standing ovation.
It was Valentine’s Day in 1984 when they skated to victory at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics , winning the gold medal and earning the highest ever score for a single performance (pictured)
And now, 40 years later, Jayne Torvill , 66, and Christopher Dean , 65, are hanging up their skates for good as they have announced their retirement (pictured in Sarajevo recently)
The British skating duo will embark on one final UK tour next year, which will be their swansong and mark 50 years since they formed their skating partnership in 1975
Following the end of their competitive career, Torvill and Dean started coaching and choreographing and regularly toured, before becoming the faces of ITV’s reality show Dancing on Ice in 2006 (pictured)
It was watched on television by 24 million people in the UK and one month later they received an even better score at the World Championships.
Their farewell tour, Torvill and Dean: Our Last Dance, will run from April 12 to May 11 2025 with dates in London, Belfast, Newcastle and Glasgow.
‘I think there comes a time when you know,’ said Dean.
‘We’re not spring chickens anymore but we’re still able to do it to a certain degree that we feel good about it but that will go.
‘So, I think this is the right time for us to be able to do that and go and skate and do some of the old routines, be very nostalgic, but then do some new fun, upbeat (dances) with friends of ours from the skating world and from Dancing On Ice.’
He said that they are looking at the tour as a ‘celebration’ but predicts they will feel emotional about their final skate the nearer is gets.
‘We’ll have a sense of pride as well, I think, of what we’ve done and still been able to do over the years, bringing competitive skating and competitions and then entertainment through the TV screen,’ he said.
He said: ‘We’re not spring chickens anymore but we’re still able to do it to a certain degree that we feel good about it but that will go’
The pair became international stars after receiving 12 perfect 6’s while skating to Maurice Ravel’s Boléro at the Zetra Olympic Hall in Sarajevo, prompting a standing ovation (pictuerd at the Olympic Museum)
It was watched on television by 24 million people in the UK and one month later they received an even better score at the World Championships
Torvill and Dean making their way onto the ice in Sarajevo
Their farewell tour, Torvill and Dean: Our Last Dance, will run from April 12 to May 11 2025 with dates in London, Belfast, Newcastle and Glasgow (pictured at Zetra Olympic Hall)
Dean said that they are looking at the tour as a ‘celebration’ but predicts they will feel emotional about their final skate the nearer is gets
‘I think we’ll get reflective and look at it not in a sad way but in a happy way.’
Following the end of their competitive career, Torvill and Dean started coaching and choreographing and regularly toured, before becoming the faces of ITV’s reality show Dancing on Ice in 2006.
The show went on hiatus in 2014 and when it was revived in 2018 they returned as head judges. It will air a special commemorative tribute to their 1984 gold medal-winning performance during this Sunday’s episode.
‘That was really a launching pad of then going off to do other things,’ said of their beloved 1984 routine.
‘Touring around the world, skating in front of hundreds of thousands of people and then Dancing On Ice starting up because of winning the Olympics.’
Dean said that the pair had agreed it was the ‘right time’ to stop skating as they are ‘not spring chickens anymore’ and want to walk away while they’re still able to do it ‘to a certain degree’ (pictured at the 1994 British Championships)
