Torvill and Dean share they are retiring from skating and announce farewell tour
Forty years after they wowed the world with their Bolero routine, ice skating legends Torvill and Dean are calling it a day.
It was on Valentine's Day, 1984, that Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean skated to Olympic gold in Sarajevo in one of the most magical sporting moments ever with a breathtaking routine set to Ravel's Bolero.
Yesterday they were back in the Bosnian capital to announce their retirement from skating - though not from their judging roles on Dancing On Ice - and a big farewell tour.
At the old Zetra Olympic Hall, where they triumphed with maximum scores for artistic impression from all of the judges, Chris, 65, said: "I remember the moment all the sixes came and I knew we’d done it. We weren’t the last pair to dance, but I couldn’t see how anyone could overtake us now."
Jayne Torvill (right) and Christopher Dean (left) won gold medals for their performance to Ravel's Bolero at the Olympic Games in 1984 (Getty Images/AllsportUK/Allsport)In a sports hall where the ice rink once was, on the very spot where they began their ethereal routine, 66-year-old Jayne said: "It was here that our life changed forever.
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"We'd trained and practised so hard that, even on a bad day, we knew we were pretty good. You can never be 100% sure it will go as planned, though.
"Ice is so unforgiving, anything can happen. Your blade can hit a rough bit of ice or there may be a stray sequin on the ground and then everything can turn topsy-turvy. It was the most intense four minutes of our lives and the most important. It changed everything."
The pair returned to the location of the Zetra Olympic Hall ice rink in Bosnia and Herzegovina this week to mark the 40th anniversary (Victoria Jones/PA Wire)So, for four decades, while the rest of the world has celebrated Valentine's Day, Jayne and Chris have always got in touch from their homes, in Sussex and West Yorkshire respectively, to wish each other "Happy Bolero Day".
They are back in Sarajevo at the invitation of the city's mayor to mark the anniversary of an event watched by more than 24 million on TV, using the visit to announce a last hurrah.
The Torvill & Dean: Our Last Dance tour will kick off at the OVO Arena in Wembley on April 12, 2025, and criss-cross the UK and Northern Ireland, finishing in Glasgow at the OVO Hydro a month later on May 11.
They made headlines with their acclaimed routine at the Olympics at the time (The Mirror)
The pair, pictured with their gold medals, are known to younger audiences for being on Dancing on Ice (Getty Images)Reflecting on the decision to draw things to a close, Chris said: "I think there comes a time when you know. We're not spring chickens any more, but we’re still able to do it to a certain degree we feel good about it, but that will go.
"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.
"We’ll have a sense of pride as well, I think, of what we’ve done.
"I think we'll get reflective and look at it not in a sad way but in a happy way." They savoured every moment of their time back at the scene of their greatest triumph. The sadness is that the original ice rink was bombed in the Bosnian war. A new one has been built and it was there that they put a group of primary schoolchildren through their ice-skating paces.
Jayne said: "It was lovely. It takes you right back almost 60 years to when we started out."
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During their recent return to Sarajevo, Christopher and Jayne skated with children at the Zetra Skating Club (Victoria Jones/PA Wire)Looking back to their Olympic triumph, one of their favourite memories is of a practice session.
Chris said: "It was six o’clock in the morning and we were the only people practising on the rink. We danced our full routine. When we finished, there was a ripple of applause from way up in the gods. Unbeknown to us, the cleaners had downed tools to watch."
Jayne said: "That was a special moment which gave a hint of what was to come. When we came to do it in front of the judges, dancing it the best we’d ever done, there was a roar as the arena erupted and we knew we’d done it."
Asked how they were shaping up ahead of their final tour, both dived for a table to touch wood. Chris said: "Not that we’re superstitious!"
He has a gym at the bottom of his garden and, most days, will go through an hour-and-a-half programme of cardio and weights. Jayne works out with a personal trainer three times a week.
The professional skaters took to the ice whilst at the venue on their trip earlier this week (Victoria Jones/PA Wire)They will begin rehearsing in earnest when next year's Dancing On Ice has ended. Jayne said: "We're certainly not retiring from that." Jayne has two children, Kieran, 21, and Jessica, 17, and Chris has two sons, Jack, 25, and Sam, 23, but none of them have followed in their parents' footsteps on to the ice.
But Chris said: "I said to Sam that Jayne and I were coming to Sarajevo to celebrate the 40th anniversary of our win and he suddenly said, 'I'm proud of you, Dad'. I don’t mind admitting it brought a lump to my throat."
There's a good chance their audiences will choke up too during the tour. They promise to entertain with "plenty of new stuff". But what about the Bolero? Chris says: "How could we not? We'd be lynched if we left it out."
- Torvill & Dean: Our Last Dance Tour, April 12 – May 11, 2025, tickets: TorvillandDean.com or Ticketmaster.
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