As others see us

GREEDY, greedy, greedy. Christopher Dean, the one-time cop and womaniser, is 35. Jayne Torvill, a matronly housewife dressed up in ballroom finery, is 36. Yet the superannuated British tandem, demi-gods of ice dancing in the early '80s, really believed they could revisit both their youth and the uppermost medal podium.

Hubris. Torvill, who always had a streak of the nanny in her, doesn't even attempt to be coy

or cute like her partner. Dean is

the pretty one. Torvill is just

Plain Jane.

The Toronto Star

THEY COME on to the ice. Christopher, bundled up in his black suit, looks like a social dancer. Jayne, chubby-cheeked and puffy with outrageous makeup, is straining under her costume. She looks like a London housewife at the wedding of one of her children. The programme is down-at-heel and old-fashioned. Heavy and slow. . . yesterday's magicians have become ordinary.

Le Figaro, French daily

THE GENIUS of the program - and this is what the judges missed - was its originality.

Instant global gossip has it that they were penalised by the judges for recycling old choreography . . . Well-known thieves like George Balanchine and Martha Graham would have loved that one.

Typically, they left everyone else behind. While other couples were emoting all over the ice in the free-dance, Torvill and Dean opted for pure dance. They just faced the music and skated. Better than anyone else.

New York Times