| Honorific Prefix: | Dame |
| Jayne Torvill | |
| Birth Date: | 7 October 1957 |
| Birth Place: | Clifton, Nottingham, England |
| Height: | [1] |
| Retired: | 1984, 1994 |
| Birth Name: | Jayne Torvill |
Dame Jayne Christensen[2] (; born 7 October 1957) is a British professional ice dancer and former competitor. She and her skating partner Christopher Dean are considered amongst the greatest ice dancers of all time.[3] The pair won a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics, as well as a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics, becoming one of the oldest figure skating Olympic medalists. They were also four-time world and European champions and seven-time British champions.
Torvill was born in Clifton, Nottingham, England, and grew up in Nottingham.[4] She attended Clifton Hall Girls' Grammar School and worked in the city as an insurance clerk at Norwich Union.[4]
She became captivated by ice skating at age 8 following an after-school trip to the local ice rink. In 1971, at age 14, Torvill won gold at the British Pairs Figure Skating Championship with her then-partner Michael Hutchinson.[4] They also took silver in 1970 and 1972.[4]
After parting from Hutchinson, Torvill continued to skate on her own for a while before deciding to team up with Christopher Dean in 1975.[4] On placing 5th in the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, Dean gave up his job as a policeman and Torvill gave up hers as an insurance clerk to skate together full-time.[4]
Torvill and Dean's free programme at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics was performed to the music of Maurice Ravel's Boléro, which had to be cut down from 17 minutes to just 4 minutes.[4] They received twelve perfect 6.0 marks, one of five occasions they were awarded all perfect scores for artistic impression. It was one of the most popular achievements in the history of British sport, watched by a British television audience of 24 million people. Since the time limit was four minutes and ten seconds and their music was four minutes 28 seconds, they began on their knees and moved their bodies to the music for 18 seconds before starting to skate.[5]
Torvill and Dean turned professional after their 1984 Olympic win and under then-existing Olympic Committee rules their professional status made them ineligible to compete in the Olympics again. However, in 1993, the International Skating Union relaxed the rules for professional skaters, allowing the pair to participate in the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer where they won a bronze medal. Torvill took a seven-year break from skating from 1998 to 2005.
From January 2006 to March 2025, she and Dean participated in the ITV show Dancing on Ice as "judges".[6] [7] [8] Each season, the show runs from January to March and then goes on tour to arenas across the United Kingdom. In November 2011, Torvill said, "the standard each year has gotten higher and higher, which is exciting for us – to think what we can achieve with people who have never skated or are relatively unknown to skating." Dancing on Ice ended on ITV after 19 years due to a drop in ratings.
Torvill and Dean were ambassadors for the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield, England.[9] In February 2014, Torvill and Dean visited Sarajevo for the 30th anniversary of the 1984 Olympics, and recreated their Bolero routine in the same arena where they won the gold.
Torvill married Phil Christensen in 1990, and they are parents of two adopted children.[4]
She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1981 New Year Honours for services to ice dancing,[10] promoted to Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2000 New Year Honours for services to ice skating, and appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2026 New Year Honours for services to Ice Skating and to Voluntary Service.
In 1993, she and Dean were awarded Honorary Master of Arts degrees by Nottingham Trent University for services to ice dance and their contribution to its development as a creative art.[4]
| International | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | |||||
| align=left | 18th | |||||||
| National | ||||||||
| align=left | bgcolor=silver | 2nd | bgcolor=gold | 1st | bgcolor=silver | 2nd |
| Event | 75–76 | 76–77 | 77–78 | 78–79 | 79–80 | 80–81 | 81–82 | 82–83 | 83–84 | 93–94 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olympics | 5th | 1st | 3rd | ||||||||
| Worlds | 11th | 8th | 4th | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | ||||
| Europeans | 9th | 6th | 4th | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | ||||
| British Championships | 4th | 3rd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | ||
| NHK Trophy | 2nd | ||||||||||
| St Ivel International | 1st | 1st | |||||||||
| Oberstdorf | 2nd | 1st | |||||||||
| St Gervais | 1st | ||||||||||
| Morzine Trophy | 2nd | ||||||||||
| John Davis Trophy | 1st | ||||||||||
| Sheffield Trophy | 1st | ||||||||||
| Rotary Watches Competition | 2nd | ||||||||||
| Northern Championships | 1st | ||||||||||
| WD: Withdrew | |||||||||||
| Event | 1984 | 1985 | 1990 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Professional Championships | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | ||
| Challenge of Champions | 1st | 1st | 1st | ||||
| World Team Championship | 3rd | 1st | 1st |
| 1984 | 1985 | 1990 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Professional Championships | Song of India, Encounter | Diablo Tango, Venus | Oscar Tango, Revolution / Imagine | Encounter | Still Crazy After All These Years, Cecilia | Take Five, Hat Trick | |
| Challenge of Champions | Echoes of Ireland | Still Crazy After All These Years, Cecilia | Take Five, Hat Trick | ||||
| World Team Championships | Let's Face the Music, Encounter | Bridge Over Troubled Water, Cecilia | Sarabande, Hat Trick |
| OSP/ORD | Free Dance | Exhibitions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | The Great Waldo Pepper | |||
| 1979 | Masquerade | Slaughter on Tenth Avenue[11] | Evergreen[12] | |
| 1980 | A Little Street in Singapore | Sing Sing Sing etc.[13] | Puttin' On the Ritz | |
| 1981 | Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White) | Fame etc.[14] | History of Love (version 1)[15] | |
| 1982 | Summertime[16] | Mack and Mabel[17] | The Hop, Kiss Me Kate, Fast Tap | |
| 1983 | Rock n Roll | Barnum[18] | Putting on the Ritz | |
| 1984 | Paso Doble | Boléro[19] | I Won't Send Roses[20] | |
| 1994 | History of Love (version 2)[21] | Let's Face the Music[22] | Boléro |
Torvill was portrayed by Poppy Lee Friar in the 2018 biopic Torvill & Dean.
