Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won the Olympics in ice dancing in 1984. They are considered figure skating legends.
Jayne Torvill was born on October 5, 1957. She was born in Nottingham, England.
Christopher Dean was born on July 28, 1958. He was also born in Nottingham, England.
Jayne began skating when she was eight years old. She became a successful pair skater and won the British National Figure Skating Championship in pairs in 1971.
Christopher began skating when he was ten years old. He played football and his family was involved with ballroom dancing. He began ice dancing as a young teen. He won the British Junior Ice Dancing Championships with Sandra Elson. In 1974, at age sixteen, Dean became a policeman.
Torvill and Dean did a free dance performance at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo that is remembered as a legendary performance. They skated to Maurice Ravel's Boléro and received nine perfect 6.0 scores.
Janet Sawbridge first coached Jayne and Christopher, but eventually, the team changed coaches and worked with Betty Callaway. Callaway coached them during the 1984 Olympic Winter Games in Sarajevo. Christopher did most of the choreography for the team.
- 1980 – 5th Olympics
- 1981 - European Champions
- 1981 - World Champions
- 1982 - European Champions
- 1982 - World Champions
- 1983 - World Champions
- 1984 - European Champions
- 1984 – Olympic Champions
- 1984 - World Champions
- 1994 – Olympic Bronze Medalists
Shortly after the 1984 Olympics, Torvill and Dean became professional figure skating performers. They toured the world and had their own ice shows. In 1994, they competed again in the Olympics since the International Skating Union relaxed the rules and allowed professionals to be eligible to compete in official figure skating events. They won bronze at the 1994 Olympic games.
Jayne Torvill is married and has two children. Christopher Dean married world figure skating champion Jill Trenary. The couple also has two children.
In 1989, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean were inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame.
