Remembering Sarajevo's Olympic Days (1) - When the World Watched Jane and Chris in Awe

(Patria) - On February 14, 1984, more than 24 million people in Great Britain and hundreds of millions worldwide watched on television for 4 minutes and 28 seconds in Sarajevo, as Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean gifted them a flawless ice dance performance to Ravel's Bolero. It was also Valentine's Day. There was no fear of mistakes, everything was in the magic that happens once and becomes history. Nothing like it had been seen in ice rinks. People were as if enchanted. All judges gave maximum points to Jayne and Chris. It had never happened and never happened again. This moment from Sarajevo made Torvill and Dean one of the most watched sporting events in the history of British television.

 

 

 

The memory and respect for these two people will never cease. And then, thirty years later, at the invitation of the then Mayor of Sarajevo, Ivo Komšić, numerous participants of those, until then most successful Olympic Games, came. And among all others, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean returned to Sarajevo in 2014 to once again dance the Bolero, celebrating the 30th anniversary of their legendary performance at the Sarajevo Olympic Games.

"Three decades after achieving a perfect score in the history of Olympic skating, Torvill and Dean returned to the ice to perform Ravel's Bolero," wrote Hannah Furness, a journalist for The Telegraph, on February 14, 2014, on the 30th anniversary.   

"We are so honored and humbled to be invited to Sarajevo and return to the place where our lives changed," Dean said.

The pair were 55 and 54 years old at the time. They returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina, to the Zetra sports hall, which had been burned and destroyed during the war in Bosnia, and then renovated. Christopher Dean told reporters that he went through an "emotional moment" after meeting a woman who, as a girl, had collected the flowers thrown to them by the audience in 1984 in their enthusiasm. "They wanted to talk to that once six-year-old girl about a generation that went through some difficult tragic moments, and now they are full of hope and joy," Chris said. Jayne Torvill admitted that she often wondered about the fate of that girl they met at the Olympic Games. Now she was a mother, whose daughter performed at an ice gala event. Everything seemed like life renewing itself indestructibly.  

These were also moments of renewed memory and admiration of Sarajevans for Jayne and Chris.  

Memory is sometimes more than experience, because it holds our lives together. It becomes the meaning that gives us strength and hope. And we know that we must never stop or surrender to fate.

Chateaubriand said: The darker the nights, the brighter the stars. In the darkest nights of the besieged city, in cold homes, Sarajevans remembered those distant, beautiful moments, in which the stars never shone brighter. And among all those stars, that beautiful romantic couple Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean stood out.