Jayne was an accomplished solo and pairs skater, a junior and senior gold medalist with her previous partner, Michael Hutchinson. Chris was a junior dance champ with his previous partner, Sandra Elson, before he and Jayne started working together in 1975.

Although they both have indicated that as children, skating was a lot of fun, in a British Television interview Jayne once said that when she started skating, she could skate forward pretty well, but the other stuff was more difficult, and she fell a lot ... and early on, Chris even broke his leg on the ice.

But that love of skating was supported with an innate discipline and many hours of hard work and they persevered to become the forerunners in their sport, changing it forever!

Jayne

• Full name...Jayne Torvill
• Born...October 7, 1957
• Ht...5'1/2"
• Wt...105
• Spouse...Phil Christensen, married September 21, 1990
• Children...Kieran, born May 2002, and Jessica, born March, 2006.
• Parents...George Torvill (Newsagent) and Betty Torvill

Chris

• Full name...Christopher Colin Dean
• Born...July 27, 1958
• Ht...5'10"
• Spouse...Jill Trenary, married October 15, 1994; Isabelle Duchesnay, 1991-1993
• Children...Two sons, Jack Robert, born November 17, 1998, and Sam Colin, born September 3, 2000.
• Parents...Colin Dean (Electrician) and Betty Dean (his stepmother). Chris's father died in 1984 after Worlds.
• Family...Chris has a stepsister, Jean, and stepbrother, Terry

  Shared Stats

  • Coaches
    • Janet Sawbridge, 1975-1978
    • Betty Callaway, 1978-1984
    • They've also worked with Bobby Thompson, Courtney Jones, Lawrence Demmy and Michael Crawford as advisors.
  • Choreographers
    • Christopher Dean
    • Jayne Torvill
    • Graeme Murphy
  • Special Awards
    • MBE's awarded 1981.
    • 1981 Team of the Year, Sports Writer Assn.
    • 1982 Team of the Year, Sports Writer Assn.
    • 1983 Winners of the BBC Sports Team of the Year
    • 1984 BBC Sports Personalities of the Year
    • 1989 Inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame
    • 1990 American Skating World, Professional Skaters of the Year
    • 1993 Honorary Master of Arts Degrees awarded by Nottingham Trent University
    • 1995 Honored by the German Federation for Contributions to the Sport
  

  Return to Home Page / Allsport and Other Photo Archives / J.Barry Mittan 1995 Photo Archives / J.Barry Mittan 1996 Photo Archives / Competitive Stats / Exhibitions and Shows / Upcoming Events / Resource Information / Fan's Corner

  Last updated 17 November 2007.