More than four decades have passed since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean gave the world a performance so perfect it not only won them Olympic gold but redefined the sport of ice skating.
The legacy of Torvill and Dean’s Bolero routine at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics in 1984, may have inspired generations but is an accomplishment yet to be surpassed.
Now, the opening of the Winter Olympics on February 6 will mark the ascendance of Torvill and Dean’s successors.
The Team GB ice dancers Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson have taken the comparisons with Torvill and Dean and the weight of being Olympic medal hopefuls in their stride.
Fear will act as one of Team GB’s flagbearers at the Opening Ceremony in Milan, the first British ice dancer to do so since Dean, 41 years before.
Fear and Gibson have been prepared for the biggest of stages. Last year, they wore Torvill and Dean’s costumes from their Olympic gold-winning routine to recreate some of the famous poses from Sarajevo.
They also secured Britain’s first global ice-skating medal since Torvill and Dean with bronze at the 2025 World Championships.
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Speaking days before the pair take to the ice at the Winter Olympics in Milan, Gibson, 31, said the comparisons to Torvill and Dean were an “honour”: “If we can achieve anything they did over their career I would be so over the moon.”
The Scot, from Prestwick, cites watching the first season of Dancing on Ice, in which Torvill and Dean coached the contestants, as the reason he started ice skating aged 11. He first competed in singles before pairing with Fear in 2016.
Torvill and Dean helped Fear and Gibson early in their partnership, which Gibson described as “crazy because they’re so obviously legendary and we were so hopeless at the time”.
Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean win the ice dance in the figure-skating competition at the 1984 Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo,
ALLSPORT
Torvill and Dean have continued to offer their support over the years and are confident in their successors’ Olympic medal chances.
They said: “Lilah and Lewis have had an amazing season so far and looking at the stats they should be on the medal podium. The colour of the medal depends on how the top four couples perform on the day and in those four minutes of a free dance.”
Fear, 26, a dual British-Canadian citizen who was born in the US to Canadian parents and moved to London aged one, said the weight of expectation added an “extra boost and encouragement”.
The pair are leaning in to garnering as much British support as possible, even choosing blatantly British routines and costumes.
Their rhythm dance is to a Spice Girls medley and their free dance to a mix of Scottish songs including The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond, I’m Gonna Be and Auld Lang Syne. Fear’s dress for the Spice Girls routine features a Union Jack in a nod to the one worn by Geri Halliwell in 1997, while the pair’s costumes for their free dance are tartan.
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If that sounds worlds away from Torvill and Dean’s Bolero, it is. Fear and Gibson have carved out a unique space in ice dance, away from the typical classical music and romantic routines, instead opting for high energy and crowd-pleasing performances. In past years they have skated to the music of Lady Gaga, The Lion King and the rock band Kiss.
Fear said: “Since 2018 we have been choosing music that is really not the norm for skating. Music that lit us up, got us very excited, and brought in new audiences. We love this sport so much and we want as many people as possible to get exposed to it so that hopefully they can get involved too and try it for themselves.”
Torvill and Dean perform on their 50th anniversary tour at Wembley Arena, London, in 2025
EAMONN M MCCORMACK/GETTY IMAGES
“What we do every day is we want to connect with whoever’s watching,” she added.
The pair, who train in Montreal, Canada, have also gone viral for skating to Taylor Swift. “It’s such a power,” Gibson said. “It shows that people are ready for skating to be done a different way.”
Fear added: “When we skate, there’s this sense of freedom and just feeling so unlimited and joyful and ourselves.”
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At the European Championships last month in Sheffield, Gibson and Fear were visibly disappointed in the kiss and cry, when skaters are awarded their marks by the judges, as they secured bronze after a mistake in their free dance.
Gibson admitted their performance was not the skate they “would have dreamed of doing there” but it provided motivation “to keep focused” and Fear said it was a “great chance to train our mind”.
Fear and Gibson first take to the ice on Friday as part of the team event, where Team GB is one of only ten teams to qualify. They then compete in their own event on Monday and Wednesday.
Their competition includes three-time world champion American skaters Madison Chock and Evan Bates, and a French pairing which includes the 2022 Olympic Champion Guillaume Cizeron.