Final curtain: Torvill and Dean's last Olympic appearance (Lillehammer, 1994)

IN 1984, following triumphs on the domestic and European stage, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won their first and only Olympic gold medal. More than 24 million people tuned in on that fateful St Valentine's Day, as a Nottingham-born police officer and office clerk became the highest-scoring figure skaters of all time – scoring perfect 6.0 scores from 12 judges.

Their wonderfully sensual performance of Ravel's Bolero was hailed by critics for its artistic impression and brought the entire Zetra Stadium to its feet in standing ovation. Later that year, after adding a fourth World title to their resum with a successful defence of the World Championships, Torvill and Dean turned professional and, due to the Olympic rulings in place at the time, they could no longer compete on the world's largest stage.

What followed was a decade of dominance unseen in most sports; ten years they continued to compete, winning every tournament they cared to enter – and pushing back the boundaries of expressive dance with each display. In 1989 the pairing were inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame alongside such greats as three-time Olympic champion Sonja Henie.

During their professional career they worked with renowned choreographer Graeme Murphy, creating dance routines not only for themselves but for other figure skaters. Most notably they worked on the West Side Story routine which won a silver medal at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville.

Torvill and Dean's Olympic story wasn't over though, and following a change in eligibility ruling they returned for the 1994 Games in Norway. The hype which preceded their grandstand return eclipsed the event however, with the actual performance shrouded in an inevitable controversy. The British team took third place, and were apparently marked down for the expressive nature of their routine – for which they had previously been acclaimed. Whatever the reason for their poor placing, their throne was unceremoniously abdicated – to make way for the Russian pairing of Grishuk and Platov, who won gold in the four Championships to follow. In 1999, Torvill and Dean were awarded OBEs.