Dame Jayne Christensen (; 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. 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.

Early life

Torvill was born in Clifton, Nottingham, England, and grew up in Nottingham. She attended Clifton Hall Girls' Grammar School and worked in the city as an insurance clerk at Norwich Union.

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. 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. 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. 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.

|Evergreen

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|1980

|A Little Street in Singapore

|Sing Sing Sing etc.

|Puttin' On the Ritz

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|1981

|Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)

|Fame etc.

|History of Love (version 1)

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|1982

|Summertime

|Mack and Mabel

|The Hop, Kiss Me Kate, Fast Tap

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|1983

|Rock n Roll

|Barnum

|Putting on the Ritz

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|1984

|Paso Doble

|Boléro

|I Won't Send Roses

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|1994

|History of Love (version 2)

|Let's Face the Music

|Boléro

  • Torvill & Dean official site