Torvill & Dean as Barbie and Ken: iconic Olympic duo reveal their pick to play them on the big screen

Olympic skating greats Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean are headed to Australia for a run of shows. Here, they reveal who they’d like to see play them on the big screen, and put to rest a decades-old rumour.

The duo who put ice-skating on the map have put to bed a several decade old rumour.

Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean – Torvill & Dean – are not in a relationship and are simply great friends.

“There is still the odd person that will think that we are married,” Torvill told Confidential, Dean chiming in: “We do tend to find now it is older mothers and grandmothers that remember us quite well.”

The pair laughed that’s it’s far from the first time someone told them they assumed they were a couple when they won a gold medal together at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics.

Back then they became the highest-scoring figure skaters of all time for a single program as they skated a romantic, emotion-charged ice dancing routine to Maurice Ravel’s Bolero.

The performance was so powerful and their connection so obvious the world assumed they were a couple. They were given perfect scores across the board for the flawless performance

Torvill and Dean will do a farewell tour of Australia in June 2025. Picture: Supplied.

Now both in their mid 60s, they’ve both toured Australia many times.

In June next year, they bring the Torvill & Dean: Our Last Dance ice show to Australia, including two shows at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena. Tickets are on sale now.

“When we are on the ice, that is our happy place,” Torvill said.

“Obviously as we get older, we’re not going to take risks or do anything silly.

“We are lucky we can still perform in a certain way for our ages so that’s why we are excited to be able to tell our story and our career in a certain way.

“Obviously, we won’t be able to go through all the routines that led up to the Olympics, but, we hopefully will take people along the journey that we’ve had and it’ll be a celebration of our career.”

Ice skater Jayne Torvill with Christopher Dean during their medal gold-winning "Bolero" ice dancing routine at 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo.

Dean said: “If anybody likes dance, movement and skating, they’re going to be fully entertained. And at the same time, there is nostalgia there.”

Speaking via Zoom from their respective homes, the pair laughed again when asked who would play them if their story was brought to life on the big screen.

“Ryan Gosling,” Torvill said, picking the actor for Dean, who then said: “Margot Robbie for Jayne.”

Robbie and Gosling of course appeared on the big screen as Barbie and Ken together in one of the biggest films of the past few years.

Ryan Gosling as Ken and Margot Robbie as Barbie in a scene from the movie Barbie.

The Australian actor also played American figure skater Tonya Harding in 2017 film, I, Tonya.

“When you view it in its context, it’s inspirational and it’s stood the test of time,” Dean said of his and Torvill’s story. “We are still the best of friends and doing what we still love to do and made a life from it. You can have dreams and you can live them.”