Ice Skating: Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won't be retiring anytime soon after celebrating 30th anniversary of famous gold medal

The pair celebrated their success in Sarajevo by repeating their triumphant performance in the rebuilt Olympic Hall Juan Antonio Samaranch

Phil Barnett
Friday 14 February 2014 09:43 GMT
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Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean celebrate the 30th anniversary of their Olympic gold medal in Sarajevo
Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean celebrate the 30th anniversary of their Olympic gold medal in Sarajevo

Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean have no intention of retiring as they celebrate the 30th anniversary of their historic Olympic gold medal this week.

The pair marked the landmark with an emotional performance of their legendary Bolero routine in front of 5,000 adoring spectators in Sarajevo on Thursday, the eve of the anniversary.

After an "emotional" night on the ice in the Bosnian capital, Dean revealed the pair plan to continue their partnership for years to come.

"We retired once, back in 1998, privately and quietly," he told Press Association Sport. "But then Dancing on Ice came along and I don't think we'll ever retire again.

"We've got about four weeks left of Dancing on Ice and then we're going on tour around the country . Then there are a few projects in the air which we're waiting to see if they come to fruition.

"We can't say too much about them but fingers crossed.

"They aren't necessarily on the ice - but it's definitely not Strictly!"

The pair performed the routine which won them gold on St Valentine's Day 1984 in front of a sold-out Olympic Hall Juan Antonio Samaranch, the scene of their greatest triumph.

"Gosh, that was emotional," Dean said afterwards.

"The reaction of the audience really lifted the spirits and hopefully our performance did the same for them.

"Only the actual medal-winning performance can top that in terms of how special it was."

"It was emotional but very uplifting," added Torvill. "We feel very glad that we've done it now and we're happy that we saw the audience enjoying themselves."

Dean continued: "We owe so much to Sarajevo so to come back here to perform for the first time on this hallowed ground since the gold medal means so much to us.

"It's an honour and very humbling because this is where our lives were changed forever.

"We had a very short, limited time after the Olympics and thought we would maybe skate for two or three years and do something different. But 30 years on, we're still here and still doing Bolero.

"It's been an amazing ride."

The pair performed their routine flawlessly for a delighted audience in the Bosnian capital, resplendent in modernised versions of their famous purple outfits from 1984.

As the routine ended the crowd unanimously rose to their feet in applause, holding aloft cards bearing the perfect mark of '6.0' in recognition of their Olympic achievement.

Torvill and Dean made history in 1984 when their gold medal success saw them earn full marks from all nine judges, a feat never achieved either before or since, three decades on.

The duo were invited back to the city by the mayors of Sarajevo and East Sarajevo and the performance also acts as the launch of a campaign to build a permanent ice rink in the city ahead of the 2017 European Youth Winter Olympic Festival.

PA

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