Latest news with #TorvillAndDean


Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Skating legends Torvill and Dean sign off with a final performance of the iconic Bolero that won them gold at the 1984 Olympics
Torvill and Dean have hung up their skates for the last time after a final performance of Bolero on Saturday. Christopher Dean, 66, said it had been 'wonderful' to 'bow out on a high' with his ice dancing partner Jayne Torvill, 67. The Dancing on Ice duo took their place in British sporting history when they won gold at the 1984 Winter Games ice skating to Ravel's Bolero at the Zetra Olympic Hall in Sarajevo. The pair confirmed their retirement from skating together in 2024, 40 years on from their Olympic success. In April, they embarked on the UK leg of their farewell tour, Torvill And Dean: Our Last Dance, which culminated with four performances in their home town of Nottingham. Following their final performance together, Dean said: 'The performance went well and the audience were amazing and so, for us, to be able to bow out on a high like that was wonderful.' Asked if it had been emotional, he added: 'These last four performances here in Nottingham, the early ones were quite emotional and I think I sort of got that out of me, and tonight, it was a high.' 'We enjoyed it so much. The skating was good from our point of view, but the audience were phenomenal. They were the best audience ever.' Torvill, 67, said: 'I think we'll miss it. When you've done all these shows like this, and you're suddenly home, not doing anything, you miss that adrenaline rush and you miss the excitement of being on the ice, whether it's a practice session or a performance.' She added that they would continue to work together on other projects but said they will not be skating on the ice together. Posting a video of their last dance together, the pair said the performance would 'forever be in our hearts'. The pair became household names after their gold medal-winning performance at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics in 1984. They became the highest-scoring figure skaters of all time for a single programme. They also had success at the World, European and British Championships and returned to the Winter Games at Lillehammer in Norway in 1994 where they won bronze. After they bowed out from competitive skating, they branched out into touring, coaching and choreographing before becoming the faces of celebrity competition show Dancing On Ice, which ran from 2006 until 2014. When the show was revived in 2018 they became head judges until earlier this year when ITV announced it would be rested. Last week, the Olympic gold medallists unveiled a newly updated tram in their name to celebrate 50 years of dancing together. While a rink at the National Ice Centre was also officially named after them and a blue plaque marking their final performance together at the centre was revealed.
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'How I helped Torvill and Dean 45 years ago'
Almost five decades ago, entertainment agent Tony Sherwood received a call asking if he could arrange a fundraising event for a "starry" pair of amateur figure skaters. That event - a cabaret variety show - raised money to help send Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, and another ice skater, to the 1980 European Skating Championships. The duo came fourth and, four years later, Torvill and Dean would dance the Bolero in the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, becoming the highest-scoring figure skaters of all time for a single programme. The Olympic gold medallists are now preparing to skate together for one final time in Nottingham on Saturday, bringing their 50-year career to an end. Speaking to the BBC in their dressing room at the National Ice Centre, Dean said: "Tony helped us so much, really quietly in the background. "He didn't make a song and dance about it, but he put on some fundraisers to send us off the European and world championships." Torvill added: "It's just fantastic what he did to put on those shows - and the artists who gave their time and the generosity of the public who came and donated some money." Tony, now 80, still has the bright orange poster promoting the fundraiser held at the-then Gedling Miners Welfare in Mapperley in January 1980. "This is the show that started it off," he said. It forms part of a collection of memorabilia, including posters and photographs, which Tony said he had not shared with anyone for 45 years. He said his involvement had begun with a phone call from an ice skating coach called Mick Wild, who asked if he could use his showbusiness connections to put on some events to raise money for Torvill and Dean. He organised raffles and shows at social clubs and miners clubs, raising £4,500 in total. Tony said: "Nottingham's got a great history of sporting activity. "I'd explained to the artists, who gave their services free, that they would be helping someone who might become very, very successful. "It was an act of faith on their part, but they took a bit of persuading." Tony knew Brian Clough, who led Nottingham Forest to back-to-back European Cup victories in 1979 and 1980, and called him to see if he could help. He recalled Clough's response: "Young man, I can't send the team but I can send the European Cup." Those who attended the event had their photos taken with the cup and a letter kept by Tony shows that Clough also sent a cheque for £25. The money raised went towards the purchase of video camera equipment that was used by Torvill and Dean to improve their rehearsals. Reflecting on the fundraising events he organised and the support they gave to the duo, Tony said he felt "very proud". "Now that they are world famous, there's no other act, no other skaters like Torvill and Dean and I'm very proud to be involved with them," he added. Torvill and Dean unveiled a newly-updated tram in their name on Tuesday to celebrate their career. A rink at the National Ice Centre was also officially named after them and a blue plaque marking their final performance was revealed. Looking ahead to their last show, Dean said: "We want it to be a celebration, it's not a sad occasion, for us it's full circle. "This is where we started in Nottingham, this is sacred ground for us." Follow BBC Nottingham on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@ or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210. Torvill and Dean honoured in their home city Torvill and Dean to dance together for final time Watch: Torvill and Dean perform Bolero 40 years on How to cook up an Olympic-winning routine


The Independent
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
British figure skating duo set for Milan hoping to prove there is more to pairs
Think of Olympic figure skating and the mind invariably turns towards Torvill and Dean, whose string of perfect sixes in Sarajevo in 1984 remains the unattainable peak to which subsequent British ice dancers have aspired. John and Sinead Kerr, and Penny Coomes and Nick Buckland, have scraped top 10 finishes at the Games, while current number ones Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson last year became the first domestic duo to claim a world medal in the discipline since their illustrious predecessors over 40 years earlier. While ice dance has become as quintessentially British as four minute miles or old soldiers hurling themselves head-first down the Cresta Run, its more classic companion, pairs, has slid by comparatively unnoticed. But having landed a quota place for next year's Winter Olympics in Milan by virtue of an unexpected 12th place finish at last year's World Championships, British team Anastasia Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby are on a mission to prove there is more to their sport than step sequences and Bolero's. 'UK figure skating has always been about Torvill and Dean, so people see us together and assume we're just the same,' said Vaipan-Law, who grew up as a singles skater in Dundee before switching to link up with the Sheffield-based Digby in 2019. 'I'm never offended, because Torvill and Dean were absolutely incredible. But we're actually completely different.' Pairs fundamentally differs in its requirement for acrobatic lifts and throws, as opposed to ice dance, which emphasises interpretation and connection. Whereas pairs has been contested at every Winter Olympics and even some summer Games prior to that, ice dance only made its debut at the Games in 1976. The dramatic nature of pairs has earned the respect of Britain's number one ice dancers, Gibson and Fear, who will go to Milan as arguably Britain's best figure skating medal hopes since Torvill and Dean, having won a bronze medal at last year's World Championships. 'Our lifts are scary and he's holding on to me, so the fact of being thrown across the ice and landing, that takes a lot of courage,' said Fear. 'I always watch pairs in awe.' Although ice dancing appears a more natural path, Digby said it was never a question of following the crowd when he came to terms with the fact that his prospective career as a singles skater was over. 'It was always going to be pairs,' he added. 'We both came from being quite good solo skaters and had already individually done the jumps that were required. The two disciplines might seem similar, but the elements and routines we're doing actually make it completely different.'


BBC News
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
'It's an honour to play the young Torvill and Dean'
Two skating cousins have achieved the highest honour of their careers, by taking on the roles of two legends in their Forsyth, 12 and Lewis Macdonald, 13, from Ayrshire, have been playing a young Torvill and Dean in the Olympic champions' farewell 50th anniversary Our Last Dance Tour will bring to an end the sporting careers of the most iconic skaters of all young cousins will perform in front of thousands in Glasgow this weekend, bringing more glory to their family's skating legacy. Isla and Lewis are coached by their mums - sisters Suzanne Otterson-MacDonald and Gillian represented Team GB at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. Gillian was a British champion in her own skating told BBC Scotland News: "It's a massive honour for them to get this opportunity and be with these icons on tour."They had heard of them, but it was more my era of skating so I was able to tell them about them."They are on quite early in the show playing the young Chris [Dean] and Jayne [Torvill] and getting together at first after being single skaters."Both cousins are advance novice skaters and both have British championship titles under their belts as well as international train six days a week but they are both individual figure skaters, not ice the partnership they play in the show, they had to be brought together for the ice dancing magic to said: "We've not skated together before – we are figure skaters so we had to train the basics on how to skate together and then come to rehearsals to learn what we are going to do in the show."We were asked by the company to do it because they knew we were quite close and loved skating and knew we were cousins."I think everyone is quite gobsmacked that we are able to do this and it is such an honour to do it." Isla, who has been skating for almost as long as she has been walking, said she had thought being asked to take part in the tour was a prank."I was coming back from a skating comp in Bucharest," she said. "I was in an airport. My mum phoned me and said 'Isla you won't guess what's happened'."She said she thought it was a prank."The youngsters were excited to meet Torvill and Dean, admitting they were the feeling is Dean told BBC Scotland News: "We put out the search and they were perfect for the spot. They carry it off really well."They were great, very impressive. For them performing in front of the huge audiences it was a big experience for them." Jayne Torvill added: "We hope they will learn a lot from this experience and grow and develop as skaters. Who knows, in 50 years they might be doing something similar."Torvill and Dean became household names after their gold medal-winning performance of Bolero in 1984 at the Winter Olympics in became the highest-scoring figure skaters of all time for a single programme. when judges gave them a dozen perfect 6.0s and six 5.9s, which included artistic impression scores of 6.0 from every farewell tour Our Last Dance is a retelling of their with personal moments of narration.


Sky News
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News
Britain gets first world figure skating medal since Torvill and Dean in 1984
Team GB has its first world figure skating medal since Torvill and Dean in 1984, ending a drought of more than 40 years. Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson secured a bronze medal at the World Figure Skating Championships on Saturday. Their free dance to a Beyonce medley gained them a total score of 207.11 at Boston's TD Garden. The last time Britain secured a medal at the championships was when Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean had a run of four through to 1984. Fear, 25, said she "cried non-stop" after winning the medal and that it was "a dream come true". "I can't even describe my feelings. I'm still shaking," she added. Gibson, 30, also said the pair's achievement was a dream come true and thanked those who cheered them on. "The crowd here was amazing, and insane," he said. "I think we got to the moment we really worked for, they were so loud and supportive, we are thankful to the audience." Fear told Sky Sports last month that it was a "huge honour" to be considered in the same sentence as Torvill and Dean, after Gibson was inspired to take up skating by the pair. Torvill and Dean are best remembered for winning the gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics, after their Bolero routine. The duo, who recently announced their retirement, are about to embark on a farewell tour, called Torvill And Dean, Our Last Dance. They also served as judges on Dancing On Ice, which was recently put on ice by ITV, who confirmed there were no current plans for a new series.