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When it comes to Winter Olympians, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean are the first names that spring to mind. The legendary duo from Nottingham, Torvill and Dean, are among the greatest ice dancers of all time, winning British, European, Olympic and world titles in their heyday.

They captured hearts worldwide with their gold medal win at the 1984 Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo, following an iconic performance that became one of the most-watched TV events in the UK.

Having skated together since the 1970s, they retired from professional competition in 1998 and took up coaching roles. They then became judges on the ITV show Dancing on Ice and have worked together for five decades in total.

Mirror Sport takes a look at the iconic pair's relationship away from the ice rink, examining whether they ever shared a romantic spark following an admission about "crossing the line".

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While they have never officially dated, the duo admits to having once shared a kiss as teenagers in 1975. "We were in the back of the bus going to a league match, and it just happened. It was a one-off. We never talked about it afterwards. We laugh about it now," Torvill revealed to Radio Times.

In an interview with Piers Morgan in 2013, Dean shed further light on them "dabbling" romantically during that team trip. "We were kids," he said. "It was before we were skating partners. The team would go to competitions at different rinks. It was a back-of-the-bus kiss on one of those coach trips."

Torvill added that the kiss occurred before they began skating together as a duo, explaining: "Later, when I was about 14 and still not into boys much, my coach said, 'Whatever you do, don't date your skating partner because if you fall out, he won't want to skate with you.' That always stuck in my mind."

During an appearance on the High Performance Podcast, the pair were once again asked if their relationship had ever "crossed the line," with Dean responding: "When we were younger, we were sort of, for a minute, but it didn't last very long. I think we just eventually got into that place where we knew that we were the best of friends. I think that mutual friendship has got us to this point now, 50 years later."

While Torvill and Dean's chemistry on and off the ice helped them achieve legendary status in their sport, it has led many to mistakenly believe they are romantically involved.

But their commitment to ice skating and desire for success kept them from making things romantic - and they have not broken this golden rule since their teenage fling.

"We got close but at some point realised that we weren't going to make a relationship off the ice in terms of a romantic one," Dean once explained.

"We had seen a lot of partnerships fail. It was a conscious decision. The skating was everything and having a relationship just didn't occur to us."

Torvill has also offered her own thoughts, saying: "[The kiss] was before major competitions and you know, when you're kids, when you're teenagers, and people just go out on trips and go to competitions and afterwards have a bit of fun. But, I think still even then our main focus was the skating and being ready to train the next day.

"Quite often we get asked, 'What's the secret of your friendship, relationship...?' We never got married," she continued, with Dean reiterating: "Don't sleep with each other!"

On how they kept their relationship platonic, Torvill explained: "We knew that turning professional, you know, the show's got your name on it. But if you're doing a professional show, there's no messing about because you can't be silly and, I don't know, you know, go off and get married in the middle of a season of a show or have an affair with somebody.

"Because, like Chris said, you've got to stay focused on what you're doing because the next day you've got to be ready to do a performance."

Both skaters have their own families and separate lives. Torvill has been married to Phil Christensen, an American sound engineer, for over three decades since September 21, 1990. The couple have two adopted children together, Kieran and Jessica. She has candidly spoken about her struggles with fertility, revealing her experience with an ectopic pregnancy and the emotional toll of a year-long IVF treatment.

Dean, meanwhile, has been married twice: first to French-Canadian skater Isabelle Duchesnay from 1991 to 1993, and then to American skater Jill Trenary. He and Trenary have two sons, Jack and Sam, though their 16-year marriage ended in 2010.

Since 2011, Christopher has been in a relationship with British ice dancer Karen Barber. After rumours swirled about their romance, they decided to address them head-on.

In a shared statement back in 2011, the couple announced: "We have been great friends for more than 30 years. Following recent media speculation, we feel the necessity to confirm that this year has seen a change in our relationship, but we are taking things very slowly as it is early days."

They also expressed their gratitude, adding: "We'd very much like to thank our dear friends, who have been so incredibly supportive to us. We both have families with children so we ask the media to please respect their privacy."

Dean has admitted his relationship with Torvill affected his romantic life, revealing that Duchesnay used to say, "There were three people in our marriage." Torvill also recalled that her husband "has been called Chris quite a few times. He looks nothing like Chris. He often just goes with it rather than correcting them."