What the papers said about . . . Torvill and Dean

'The credibility of ice dancing as an Olympic discipline was destroyed when the eccentricities of the judging system that denied Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean the gold medal were exposed to public ridicule.' Daily Telegraph

'Long years of behind-the-hand muttering about biased judges or judges who are just plain barmy came to a crescendo here as the world cried 'Fix.' ' Daily Mail

'Most of the judges must have been blind.' Sun

'What is for sure is that the supinely adoring and jingoistic 'What's gone wrong with the script?' tones of the BBC TV commentators Barry Davies and Alan Weeks added to the nation's bereft neurosis once the judges had coldly pressed their buttons.' Guardian

'Loudly as the cheers rang out, defiantly as the Union Jacks waved aloft, angrily as the jeers condemned the meagre marks from all except the English judge, Britain's first and perhaps only medal of the XVIIth Winter Olympics came tinged with disappointment.' Daily Mail

'End of an Ice Age - It's bronze for Jayne and Chris' Daily Mirror

'The most bizarre marks came for the winners, all zip and little precision but a clear-cut preference by the judges. It was almost as though those with the power were wanting to exact some kind of reprisal for the British pair's odd mathematical victory in Copenhagen.' Times

'Gold Robbery' Daily Express

'Although they faced the music and danced, they were rocked and rolled off the winner's rostrum.' Daily Express

'As our pictures show, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean were CHEATED out of first place in Norway.' Daily Star

'When their carefully worked version of 'Let's Face the Music and Dance' earned nine perfect sixes for presentation at the National Championships on 8 January there was a temptation to assume that the rest of their ambitions would be realised with the same apparently magical ease. But it was never going to be as simple as that.' Independent

'One furious British official suggested that the only way Torvill and Dean could have won was to take baseball bats to the knees of other skaters.' Today