British ice-skating superstars Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean are currently on their tour, ‘Our Last Dance,’ which runs until July 12. The duo, who have been on the ice together for 50 years, will retire their skates for good when the show ends.

Now, reflecting on their incredible history together in this weekend’s Sunday Express, the pros have given an insight into how they felt following their epic performance at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics that saw them take home the gold medal.

For both Torvill, 67, and Dean, 66, that Olympic win, in which they scored perfect 6.0s across the board, was the obvious highlight of their career. Alongside England’s 1966 World Cup victory, the rugby team’s 2003 World Cup win, and Murray’s Wimbledon triumph in 2013, their flawless routine to Maurice Ravel’s Boléro will always be considered one of Great Britain’s biggest sporting success stories.

“The 1984 Olympics meant everything,” says Dean. “You don’t realise at the time that four minutes in your career can be so life-changing. There are those moments that are pivotal in people’s lives – where you make a decision or you do something and it changes everything. The Olympics was that moment for us.”

Following their win, the pair were awarded BBC Sports Personality of the Year, the only time in the gong’s history it has gone to two people and had two streets – Dean Close and Torvill Drive – named in their honour in their home city of Nottingham. However, in amongst all the adulation, Jayne admits there was one moment that left them blushing – their hero’s welcome. “We were a little embarrassed,” remembers Torvill. “We thought no one would turn out. But the streets were lined. And when we got to the main square, in Nottingham, it was completely full.

“They held a reception for us in the town hall and we came out onto the balcony and waved to the crowd below. That’s when it hit us, what we’d done. Thinking about it, we were behaving like the Queen!”

Earlier this year, Dancing on Ice viewers were left sobbing when Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean performed for the final time on TV. The ice-skating duo joined the show when it began back in 2006, although initially they were brought on to help train the celebrities. After the show was revived in 2018, Torvill and Dean rejoined as judges.

Following the end of the series in March, ITV annoucned that Dancing On Ice had been “rested” and there were “no current plans for another series”. The Sunday night show ran for years hosted by Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield until Schofield resigned from ITV in 2023 after admitting lying about an affair with a younger colleague on This Morning.

An ITV spokesperson said: “Following another successful series earlier this year, Dancing On Ice will be rested in 2026 with no current plans for another series. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the cast and crew who have worked on the show since 2006, and over the previous 17 series, for all of their hard work both on and off the ice.”