Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean reveal why they're retiring

What did you miss?

Ice skating legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean spoke about their retirement on Good Morning Britain.

Torvill and Dean tuned in to speak to GMB presenters Charlotte Hawkins and Ed Balls about why now felt like the right time for them to bow out of the sport. Today 40 years ago, the pair made history when they skated to Olympic gold. It also marked 50 years of skating together.

What, how and why?

Dean said: "Gosh well 40 years ago is a long time. In actual fact, next year in 2025, we have been skating together for 50 years and we felt that was a really nice round number to say ‘we have had a wonderful time but it’s time to retire a little bit and hang up the skates’. No more touring except for the last tour we are hoping to do next year."

Torvill agreed saying: "We feel that it will be the last tour but it will be a celebration of everything that we have been through since 1984, winning the Olympics, which opened up the door to lots of other things in the future."

Dean also opened up about their final tour which he said was going to be a "celebration". He said: "The tour is going to be a celebration and nostalgic at the same time. You will see some old numbers that we have done in the past and who knows there might be a Bolero in there as well.

"But we want to bring along our friends we have met over the years onto the ice with us in a celebration for that one last tour. It’s 50 years of us together so we would like to say thank you to everybody and if you would like to come along, then come along."

What else did Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean say?

On the ground in Sarajevo where they skated to Olympic gold exactly 40 years ago, Torvill and Dean shared their delight at being back. Speaking from the heart, Dean said: "It’s fantastic being here in Sarajevo where it all started for us."

The star revealed why it was such an emotional milestone for them. He continued: "It's quite emotional actually and nostalgic at the same time. We went back into the Zetra Stadium where we actually performed and stood on the spot where we knelt down to start the Bolero routine and I sort of had tingles in the back of my neck being there again.

"The stadium was actually bombed during the war but they have rebuilt it exactly how it was before so the memories come flooding back and everywhere we walk, the people of Sarajevo still remember the spirit of the Olympics at that time."

Torvill and Dean initially said they didn't realise the moment 40 years ago would go down in history. She said: "No I don't think we ever could have imagined. Leading up to the Olympics, we were just focussed and in the zone."

Torvill added: "We hadn’t even thought of what was happening beyond that moment. We were just so ready to do the performance and hoped that it all went well and we were just so relieved getting to the end of it and that we couldn't have skated it any better because we worked so hard to get to that moment."

Dean added: "It was only when we got back to the UK and in our city of Nottingham, they had arranged a parade from Jayne’s house which was a little sweet shop in Basford and it was a four mile drive into the city centre and the streets were lined with people from there all the way to the centre.

"It was only then that we realised how many people had watched and how it had affected everybody. Even 40 years later people still come to us and say ‘I remember where I was when you performed that Bolero’"

Good Morning Britain weekdays from 6am on ITV1 & ITVX

Read more

• Torvill and Dean announce skating retirement on 40th anniversary of Olympic gold (PA, 4-min read)