Jayne Torvill, OBE (born 7 October 1957) is a British professional ice dancer and former competitor. With

Christopher Dean Christopher Colin Dean, OBE (born 27 July 1958) is a British ice dancer who won a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics with his skating partner Jayne Torvill. They also won a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics. Early life Dean grew ...

, she won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have be ...

at the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games ( Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: ''XIV. Zimske olimpijske igre''; Cyrillic: XIV Зимске олимпијске игре; mk, XIV Зимски олимписки иг� ...

and a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receiv ...

at the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fr ...

, becoming one of the oldest figure skating Olympic medalists.

Early life

Torvill was born in

Clifton, Nottingham Clifton is a large suburban village and historic manor in the city of Nottingham, England. In 2020 it had an estimated population of 22,749. Clifton has two council wards in the City of Nottingham (Clifton West and Clifton East as of 2018) ...

, England, and grew up in Nottingham. She attended Clifton Hall Girls' Grammar School and worked in the city as an insurance clerk at Norwich Union.'' Piers Morgan's Life Stories'', 8 March 2013

Ice skating

She became hooked on ice skating at the age of 8 following an after-school trip to the local ice rink. In 1971 at age 14 Torvill became the British National Pairs Champion with her then-partner Michael Hutchinson. After parting from Hutchinson, Torvill continued to skate on her own for a while before teaming up with Christopher Dean in 1975. On placing 5th in the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

at Lake Placid, New York, Dean gave up his job as a policeman and Torvill gave up hers as an insurance clerk to skate together full-time. Jayne_Torvill_and_Christopher_Dean_-_Dancing_on_Ice_2011

Jayne_Torvill_and_Christopher_Dean_-_Dancing_on_Ice_2011

Torvill and Dean's free programme at the 1984

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

Winter Olympics, performed to the music of Maurice Ravel's ''

Boléro ''Boléro'' is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel. At least one observer has called it Ravel's most famous composition. It was also one of his last completed works before illness forced him into retirement. Co ...

'', became world-famous. They received twelve perfect 6.0 marks, one of five occasions they were awarded all perfect scores for artistic impression. It was one of the most popular achievements in the history of British sport, watched by a British television audience of 24 million people. Since the time limit was four minutes and ten seconds and their music was four minutes 28 seconds, they began on their knees and moved their bodies to the music for 18 seconds before starting to skate. Torvill and Dean turned professional after their 1984 Olympic win and under then existing Olympic Committee rules their professional status made them ineligible to compete in the Olympics again. However, in 1993 the

International Skating Union The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen, N ...

relaxed the rules for professional skaters, allowing the pair to participate in the

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munic ...

where they won a bronze medal. Torvill took a seven-year break from skating from 1998–2005. In January 2006, she and Dean began starring in the ITV show '' Dancing on Ice''. Each year, the show runs from January to March and then goes on tour to arenas across the United Kingdom. In November 2011, Torvill said, "the standard each year has gotten higher and higher, which is exciting for us – to think what we can achieve with people who have never skated or are relatively unknown to skating." Torvill and Dean were ambassadors for the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

, England. In February 2014, Torvill and Dean visited Sarajevo for the 30th anniversary of the 1984 Olympics, and recreated their Bolero routine in the same arena where they won the gold.

Competitive results

Pair skating with Hutchinson

Amateur results with Dean

Professional results with Dean

Professional programs

Amateur programs

Personal life

Torvill currently resides in Heathfield,

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, with her husband Phil Christensen and their adopted children Kieran and Jessica. In 2021 Torvill took part in an episode of '' DNA Journey'' were she found out she was related to footballer Charlie Bicknell, a cousin on her mother's side.

In popular culture

Torvill was portrayed by Poppy Lee Friar in the 2018 biopic '' Torvill & Dean''.

References

External links

Torvill & Dean official site
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Torvill, Jayne BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners British sportswomen English female ice dancers English Olympic medallists European Figure Skating Championships medalists Figure skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1984 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1994 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1984 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics Officers of the Order of the British Empire Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic figure skaters of Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in figure skating 1957 births Living people People from Clifton, Nottinghamshire Sportspeople from Nottingham World Figure Skating Championships medalists People from Heathfield, East Sussex