The Story Of Bolero With Torvill and Dean
ITV1 Looks Back At Britain's 1984 Olympic Champions
“For everyone else February 14th is Valentine’s Day. For us, February 14th is Bolero Day”. On February 14th 1984, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean became the first ice dance couple to receive a score of 12 perfect 6s at the Sarajevo Olympics, a feat which has never been equalled. Having been World Champions three years running, and finishing a respectable fourth in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, the British pair was determined to pull out all the stops to produce a memorable routine for the free dance portion of the competition. Skating to Ravel’s Bolero, they convinced the world they were anguished lovers doomed to be apart, and brought the house down.
Dancing on Ice: The Story of Bolero with Torvill and Dean traces the journey from their humble beginnings at the Nottingham Ice Rink to Olympic glory 25 years ago. As with most sporting triumphs, there were many years of relentless training and competing, rather than overnight success. Originally partnered with other skaters, they first came together in 1975, and immediately clicked. As Jayne Torvill notes, “I was really happy to have somebody of the same mind as me and had the same work ethic as me.”
Success Or The Unemployment Office
Even though they were soon steadily notching up victories, such was the state of competitive skating in Britan that both continued to hold regular jobs – Chris as a policeman, Jayne as an insurance clerk – and fitted the skating around work. It was not until 1980, after the Olympics, that they decided to skate full time and bid farewell to job security. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Despite their status as national icons, the most striking thing about the couple is how “ordinary” they are. With the obligatory trips down memory lane this type of show provides, both are genuinely pleased to meet former work colleagues, and are still keen to impress their former coach Betty Calloway with a new routine as part of the Dancing on Ice choreography. And they can even have a little chuckle at themselves as “old relics” when they seen their famous costumes on display at Nottingham Castle.
It Nearly Wasn’t Bolero
Although the usual parade of famous faces line up to praise their well-deserved success, including the Dancing on Ice judges, the show works best when it features behind-the-scenes people who all played their part in the couple’s triumph. One notable example of this is John Holmes from BBC Radio Nottingham, who recalls how the couple asked if they might possibly be able to go through the station’s record collection to get some inspiration. Their first choice of song was actually from the musical 42nd Street, but this was judged to be too close to tracks from other routines such as Barnum and Mack and Mabel. As soon as Bolero came on, however, everyone knew this was the one.
What saves The Story of Bolero With Torvill and Dean from being a simple puff piece tied into a successful television show is Jayne and Chris themselves. Time after time they come across as decent, dedicated professionals who thoroughly deserved their success. There are no stories of diva behaviour, tantrums, or snubbing other competitors, particularly their British counterparts. The couple never miss an opportunity to praise those who helped them along the way, rather than airbrushing them out of history. And thanks to them, a minority sport with few up-and-coming British stars is back on TV, pulling in 10 million viewers an episode. A true inspiration for athletes of any sport.
What do you think about this article?
More in Film & TV
Latest Articles