Christopher Dean

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Figure skating
Olympic medal record
Gold	1984 Sarajevo	Ice dancing
Bronze	1994 Lillehammer	Ice dancing

**Christopher Dean**
Personal Info
Country:	Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
Date of birth:	July 27 1958 (1958-07-27) (age 51)
Partner:	Jayne Torvill
Former Partner:	Sandra Elson
Former Coach:	Betty Callaway, Janet Sawbridge
Retired:	1984, 1994
ISU Personal Best Scores

Christopher Colin Dean, OBE (born 27 July, 1958 in Nottingham, England) is an English figure skater who won a gold medal in ice dancing at the 1984 Winter Olympics with his skating partner Jayne Torvill. They also won a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics.

Dean is from Calverton, Nottinghamshire. His father, Colin Dean, was an electrician.

Dean was awarded the rank of Officer of The Order of the British Empire in 1999.

1 Skating career
2 Personal life
3 Results with Jayne Torvill
4 External links

[edit] Skating career

Christopher Dean began to skate at the age of 10 after he received a pair of skates as a Christmas present. His parents were keen ballroom dancers. At school he was captain of the football team and he saw ice skating as a sport that was athletic and graceful. Dean's first ice partner was Sandra Elson. They began skating together when he was 14 and competed as ice dancers for a few years. However, despite becoming British Junior Dance champions, the team parted, as Dean and Elson did not get along well. Dean then agreed to try out Jayne Torvill, another skater at the Nottingham rink. The pair were first coached by Janet Sawbridge, but in 1978 Betty Callaway became their coach.

Dean left school at age 16 and joined the Nottingham Police Force in 1974. It was challenging for him to undergo police cadet training, as his schedule often clashed with his skating training sessions. Thus Torvill and Dean had to practise during his off-hours. These difficult times brought them closer and gave them a sense of discipline that was to prove vital throughout their career.

By 1980, Torvill and Dean had progressed to not only become British National Dance Champions but were in medal contention in international competitions as well. It was then that Chris realized he could no longer balance his skating and police careers, and he resigned from the police force. Torvill soon quit her job as well. Dean also served as the chief choreographer for the Torvill and Dean team.

Torvill and Dean's free program at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics, performed to the music of Maurice Ravel's Boléro, became world famous. They received nine "6.0" marks for artistic impression, the highest possible score and the only time ever that an all-perfect score was achieved. This was one of the most popular achievements in the history of British sport, watched by a British television audience of twenty-four million people.

Torvill and Dean turned professional after their 1984 Olympic win. Under then-existing Olympic Games rules, as professionals they became ineligible to participate in Olympic competition. In 1993 the International Skating Union relaxed its rules for professional skaters, which allowed the pair to participate in the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, where they won a bronze medal.

Torvill and Dean were admitted to the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1989.

[edit] Personal life

Between 1991 and 1993 Dean was married to French Canadian world ice dance champion Isabelle Duchesnay, whom he met while choreographing the routines for her and her brother Paul Duchesnay in the late 1980s.

On 15 October, 1994 Dean married Jill Trenary, an American skater, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They have two sons, Jack Robert and Sam Colin, and currently reside in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

[edit] Results with Jayne Torvill

Event	1975-1976	1976-1977	1977-1978	1978-1979	1979-1980	1980-1981	1981-1982	1982-1983	1983-1984	1993-1994
Winter Olympic Games					5th				1st	3rd
World Championships			11th	8th	4th	1st	1st	1st	1st
European Championships			9th	6th	4th	1st	1st	Withdrew	1st	1st
British Championships		4th	3rd	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st
NHK Trophy					2nd
St Ivel International						1st	1st
Oberstdorf		2nd	1st
St Gervais		1st
Morzine Trophy				2nd
John Davis Trophy			1st
Northern Championships	1st
Sheffield Trophy		1st
Rotary Watches Competition				2nd