Torvill and Dean return to Sarajevo to celebrate 40 years since Olympics win

The arrival of 1984 was to be a significant time in history. It was the start of the acrimonious 11-month Miners' Strike and the year Band Aid was founded leading to the number one single Do They Know It's Christmas?

From humble beginnings in local competitions, Torvill, who was born in Clifton, and Dean, from Calverton, went on to win European, World and Olympic gold medals. But they didn't just collect prizes, they set new standards in ice dancing. In a quest for funding Jayne wrote an impassioned letter to Nottingham City Council leader, Coun John Carroll, which began: "I don't know whether you have seen my partner and I recently on the television..." It paid off and the council awarded the couple £53,000 over a four-year-period leading up to the Olympics. It was a controversial decision which was turned into a political football at the time.

They broke new ground in spectacular style when they unveiled the hypnotic routine to Maurice Ravel's Bolero at the 1984 Olympics. However, their condensed version of the 17-minute orchestral piece over-ran the four-minute time limit skaters had. “Of course, after already holding World and European titles they were odds-on favourites and didn’t let down the huge contingent of fans who had flown over from East Midlands Airport for that historic final performance on Valentine’s night, aptly, as all the national press were trying to marry them off.

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