{"id":277156,"date":"2026-02-06T11:46:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/277156\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T11:46:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:46:21","slug":"skating-pair-ready-for-bid-to-inherit-torvill-and-deans-winter-olympics-crown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/277156\/","title":{"rendered":"Skating pair ready for bid to inherit Torvill and Dean\u2019s Winter Olympics crown"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

The legacy of Torvill and Dean\u2019s Bolero routine at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics in 1984, may have inspired generations but is an accomplishment yet to be surpassed. <\/p>\n

Now, the opening of the Winter Olympics on February 6 will mark the ascendance of Torvill and Dean\u2019s successors.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Fear will act as one of Team GB\u2019s flagbearers at the Opening Ceremony in Milan, the first British ice dancer to do so since Dean, 41 years before.<\/p>\n

Fear and Gibson have been prepared for the biggest of stages. Last year, they wore Torvill and Dean\u2019s costumes from their Olympic gold-winning routine to recreate some of the famous poses from Sarajevo.<\/p>\n

They also secured Britain\u2019s first global ice-skating medal since Torvill and Dean with bronze at the 2025 World Championships. <\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2018They are legends of British ice dance\u2019 \u2013 trying to emulate Torvill and Dean<\/a><\/p>\n

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 \u201chonour\u201d: \u201cIf we can achieve anything they did over their career I would be so over the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Torvill and Dean helped Fear and Gibson early in their partnership, which Gibson described as \u201ccrazy because they\u2019re so obviously legendary and we were so hopeless at the time\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"Jayne<\/p>\n

Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean win the ice dance in the figure-skating competition at the 1984 Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo,<\/p>\n

ALLSPORT<\/p>\n

Torvill and Dean have continued to offer their support over the years and are confident in their successors\u2019 Olympic medal chances. <\/p>\n

They said: \u201cLilah 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u201cextra boost and encouragement\u201d. <\/p>\n

The pair are leaning in to garnering as much British support as possible, even choosing blatantly British routines and costumes. <\/p>\n

Their rhythm dance is to a Spice Girls medley and their free dance to a mix of Scottish songs including The Bonnie Banks o\u2019 Loch Lomond, I\u2019m Gonna Be and Auld Lang Syne. Fear\u2019s 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\u2019s costumes for their free dance are tartan. <\/p>\n

\u2022 Team GB vow to be \u2018disruptors\u2019 in pursuit of record medal haul<\/a><\/p>\n

If that sounds worlds away from Torvill and Dean\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

Fear said: \u201cSince 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jayne<\/p>\n

Torvill and Dean perform on their 50th anniversary tour at Wembley Arena, London, in 2025<\/p>\n

EAMONN M MCCORMACK\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we do every day is we want to connect with whoever\u2019s watching,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The pair, who train in Montreal, Canada, have also gone viral for skating to Taylor Swift. \u201cIt\u2019s such a power,\u201d Gibson said. \u201cIt shows that people are ready for skating to be done a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fear added: \u201cWhen we skate, there\u2019s this sense of freedom and just feeling so unlimited and joyful and ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Enjoy the Olympic curling! (It\u2019s costing us \u00a3630,000 per athlete)<\/a><\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

Gibson admitted their performance was not the skate they \u201cwould have dreamed of doing there\u201d but it provided motivation \u201cto keep focused\u201d and Fear said it was a \u201cgreat chance to train our mind\u201d.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than four decades have passed since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean gave the world a performance so…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-277156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}