Ice skating legend, Jayne Torvill, has opened up about her health as she prepares to retire with her long-time partner Christopher Dean.
The dynamic duo, aged 67 and 66 respectively, have graced the ice rink for decades and are gearing up for their final live TV performance in the latest series of Dancing on Ice, which kicked off last week.
As they gear up for their swan song, the celebrated Olympic champions have been taking a trip down memory lane in various interviews, reports the Express.
Torvill recently confessed that despite regular “aches and pains” she and Dean have “never really stopped skating,” crediting the sport with keeping them “fit and healthy”.
Chatting with Prima magazine, Torvill explained: “We’ve never really stopped skating, and if we’re in a period when we’re not training together, we both use the gym quite a lot and keep fit that way.”
The duo’s chemistry on ice appears undiminished even after breaks, with Jayne noting that within just 20 minutes of hitting the rink, their famed skills are “back” and “always there”.
She drew an analogy to riding a bike, emphasising how their lifelong dedication to the sport plays an essential role in their physical well-being, though acknowledging the occasional twinge.
“It’s a bit like riding the bike story,” she explained. But we’ve done it our whole lives and I think that’s a big asset in keeping us fit and healthy, although there are aches and pains every now and then.”
Torvill and Dean’s remarkable journey as skaters has seen them claim gold medals at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo in 1984, immortalising their routine to Maurice Ravel’s Boléro, and achieving status as world champions.
It’s a partnership that has brought them extraordinary success and friendship. In a recent interview with the Mirror, skating icons Christopher Dean revealed: “This will be our last live skate – here on Dancing on Ice.
“We’re doing our last tour this year as well so once we’ve finished our last skate on tour, we won’t be performing again. There are lots of endings.”
He elaborated on their decision, saying: “We’ve been doing it a long time and people our age shouldn’t be doing it now. So we’re just happy that we can still do it.”
Despite bidding farewell to live shows, the duo will continue to judge on Dancing on Ice, with ITV’s panel including Ashley Banjo from Diversity and ex-Strictly star Oti Mabuse.
Jayne Torvill expressed her long-lasting love of the show, adding: “Dancing on Ice feels like our baby because we were approached by ITV in the early days and we came up with this format together of how it might work.
“We didn’t know much about TV but they didn’t know how skating works so together, the programme developed and it’s great that we were there from the beginning.”
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