Dennis Silverthorne

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameDennis Alfred•Silverthorne
Used nameDennis•Silverthorne
Born1 February 1923 in Brighton, England (GBR)
Died2 January 2004 in London, Ontario (CAN)
AffiliationsBrighton Figure Skating Club
NOC Great Britain

Biography

Dennis Silverthorne won the British and European Junior Championships at the age of 16 in 1939. The War years then interrupted his skating career, and in 1941 he joined the RAF, being demobilised five years later with the rank of flying officer. During the War, he had established a partnership with his younger sister Winnie and in 1946 they uniquely twice won the British pairs title after it was held in May and December that same year. Unfortunately, they could not defend their title in 1947, because Winnie fractured her leg in practice just one week before the Championships. Dennis entered the men’s singles, however, and finished a creditable second to the former world champion Graham Sharp.

Dennis and Winnie won the pairs silver medal at the 1947 European Championships at Davos, and were fourth in the Worlds. The following year, at the St. Moritz Winter Olympics, they finished fifth, one place better than their performance at the Worlds that year. Shortly after the Olympics, the pair turned professional and took part in ice spectaculars, originally in their home-town Brighton, but then all over the United Kingdom and across Europe.

Dennis went to live in Canada in the early 1950s, and devoted a large part of his time to developing the sport of figure skating in his adopted “home”, where he ran the Silverthorne Skating School for over 40 years. Being a leading coach, he also served on the board of the Figure Skating Coaches of Canada, and various advisory committees and training seminars. One of the many skaters Silverthorne was responsible for coaching was Donald McPherson who, in 1963, became the first man to win the Canadian, North American and World Men’s titles in the same season. He also became the youngest men’s world champion. The legacy of Dennis Silverthorne went beyond coaching skaters, as he also trained many skating coaches and judges. Silverthorne was posthumously admitted to the Skate Canada Hall of Fame in 2006.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1948 Winter Olympics Figure Skating (Skating) GBR Dennis Silverthorne
Pairs, Mixed (Olympic) Winnie Silverthorne 5

Olympic family relations

Special Notes