Skate off! Exactly 40 years to the day since Torvill and Dean won gold at the 1984 Winter Olympics, the duo return to the same spot in Sarajevo to announce their retirement from the ice

• Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean went to Sarajevo 40 years after winning gold

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 sixes while skating to Maurice Ravel’s Boléro at the Zetra Olympic Hall in Sarajevo, prompting a standing ovation.

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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

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And now, 40 years later, Jayne Torvill (left), 66, and Christopher Dean (right), 65, are hanging up their skates for good as they have announced their retirement

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The pair (pictured during their performance) became international stars after receiving 12 perfect sixes while skating to Maurice Ravel’s Boléro at the Zetra Olympic Hall in Sarajevo, prompting a standing ovation

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.

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Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean returned to Sarajevo to commemorate 40 years since winning gold at 1984 Winter Olympics

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Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean visit the Olympic museum, where they watch back their 1984 performance

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Torvill and Dean have announced their ‘Our Last Dance’ UK Tour for 2025

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Torvill and Dean were surrounded by young skaters on the ice in Sarajevo

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The pair looked at their gold medals while visiting the Olympic museum

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In the museum, they watched a video of the British team at the 1984 Winter Olympics walking in

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Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean visit the gymnasium that now stands at the location of the Zetra Olympic Hall ice rink, where they won their gold medals at the 1984 Winter Olympic Games, during their visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina to mark the 40th anniversary

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Torvil and Dean on the steps of the British Embassy in Sarajevo

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The skating legends posed in front of a sign for the 1984 Winter Olympics

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The pair was smiling as the skated across the ice while holding hands

‘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,’ Dean 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.’