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Duo aim to step into the shoes of ice dance heroes
Mark Henratty and Christina Chitwood weren't even born when the country stayed up late to watch Torvill and Dean perform the gold medal winning Bolero.
It was the duo's comeback 10 years later in 1994, when they won bronze in Lillehammer, which inspired a 10-year-old Mark to want to emulate them.
Christina was just four at that time and living on the other side of the Atlantic in Colorado.
There is still no one else they want to be like.
"They were so much better than everyone else, no one ever questioned that they were the best in the world," say Mark with passion.
Since their Olympic gold in 1984 many hopefuls have come and gone, dubbed the "next Torvill and Dean".
So why do this young couple, Mark, 22, and Christina, still just 17, think they have what it takes to fulfil the Olympic dream?
"Our coaches say we are the best they have ever trained, but you have to believe in yourselves, that you can be the best, or what's the point?" says Mark in a soft Glaswegian accent, his piercing blue eyes confident in his and his partner's ability, and hungry with the desire for success.
And they certainly make a stunning pair.
Both are very tall and lean for ice dancers, Mark is 6ft and Christina, 5ft7, and there is no doubt a chemistry between them which has already helped to gain them a following in the world of ice dance, especially in their adopted home of Sheffield.
Despite their similarities – they even share the same birthday – the couple come from very different backgrounds.
Christina grew up in Colorado Springs, competing from an early age, first as a ski racer, becoming national champion at the tender age
of four, then pairs skating with her brother, before turning her attention to ice dance.
When she was 15, she was in need of the right partner, and her coach, Sandy Hess, started a worldwide search for the perfect match.
"From the first moment, we knew that we were right for each other," says Mark.
"We both have long limbs and are very flexible and our skating styles are similar as well. We feel balanced. It is quite unusual to find such a good match."
Mark grew up in Paisley, Glasgow where being keen on ballet and ice dancing was not particularly easy for a boy. But Mark says it was never really a problem.
"I have always been pretty confident and can take most things that are thrown at me."
He started as a single skater and was very successful at a junior level. But then he decided to switch to ice dance in a bid to emulate the success of Torvill and Dean. "When Torvill and Dean got back together and got bronze at Lillehammer, I just got the bug," says Mark.
He moved from Glasgow, first to Nottingham and then Sheffield to be with his coach Jimmy Young.
It was Jimmy's friendship with Sandy Hess that would bring the young ice dancers together. But once they realised they had stumbled upon a special partnership, there was then the problem of where they would live, as they were separated by thousands of miles and the Atlantic Ocean.
In the end, it was decided that Chrissie would move to England and join Mark in Sheffield.
As she was only a teenager, her mum accompanied her, and both became students in Yorkshire. Chrissie is now half way through a BA
in performing arts at Rotherham College.
Her mum has now returned to the States, and although Chrissie misses friends and family, she says she is settled in the UK.
"I love England and the facilities here in Sheffield are amazing. It was a hard decision to make and I was very young, but everything is great here."
In the year and a half that the pair has been together, they have had successes, most recently bronze at the British Championships in Sheffield.
But success has not come at the speed Mark would like.
"Ice dance is a subjective sport," he says pragmatically. "It is frustrating at times. The newer you are and the lower down, the harder it is to get the results. There is an element that you have to serve your apprenticeship before you start scoring well.
"It is up to us to become so good that no one can dispute we are the best. We want what Torvill and Dean had. Nobody could question they were world champions. They were head and shoulders above the rest and that is where we need to be."
The pair train on the ice for four hours a day, six days a week, between Christina's studies, and coaching at Ice Sheffield for Mark.
They are looking for sponsors but realise it is a difficult area.
"We don't wear a great deal that we can carry a sponsor's logo on," he laughs.
But their main concern at the moment is getting a passport for Christina. As a student she can stay in the country for three years and can represent Great Britain in the European and World Championships. But for the Olympics she must have a British passport.
"You would think with the surname Chitwood that she would have some British relatives somewhere," jokes Mark.
One option would be for Christina to marry a British citizen, something they both laugh off, but it is clear that there is a special connection between them.
"She is a very beautiful woman and we are best friends," says Mark coyly. "But to have a relationship would be very difficult.
We spend so much time together and what we do is very intense. If it was to go wrong, it would ruin everything."
But the intensity of their relationship means it is very difficult for either one to meet other people.
"I can imagine that it would be quite hard for anyone else to understand what we have," says Mark.
So they are left lobbying MPs and Sport England to support their bid for Christina to be allowed to become a British citizen. But they will have to work fast if they are to compete in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010.
"It seems ironic that we could be world champions and yet not be able to compete in the Olympics," says Mark.
Sportsmen and women, like entertainers, are among those often granted work visas on the basis that their job is so specialist that it is not depriving employment to a Briton.
It does not break the IOC code. Rule 42 of the Olympic Charter states that an athlete can switch nationality after three years' absence from competing at international, continental or regional level for their previous nation. Even within this three-year period, exceptions are made, for example, for athletes who have changed nationality due to marriage.
Christina has been in the UK for 20 months and so it is not clear whether she would be eligible for a British passport. With the success of Dancing on Ice, the sport has never been more popular, something Mark thinks can only be a good thing.
"The England rugby player Kieran Bracken said ice dancing was the hardest and most physical thing he had ever done. Comments like that can only gain the sport respect," he says.
"Of course, it doesn't show everything that we do, but if it raises the profile of ice dancing, then I am happy."
And, of course, the show is hosted by Mark's heroes Torvill and Dean who the couple are hoping to work with in the near future.
"We are hoping that Chris will choreograph our programmes for us, which will be amazing."
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