Eddie The Eagle Edwards

Background

Edwards was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. A good downhill skier, he narrowly missed out on the GB team for that event for the 1984 Games. To improve his chances to qualify for Calgary in 1988, he moved to Lake Placid in the US to train and enter races of a higher standard, but he quickly found himself short on funds. To realise his Olympic dream, he decided to switch to ski jumping for reasons of cost and easier qualification as there were no other British ski jumpers with whom to compete for a place.

Edwards began jumping under the eye of John Viscome and Chuck Berghorn in Lake Placid, NY, using Berghorn's equipment, although he had to wear six pairs of socks to make the boots fit. He was handicapped by his weight—at about 82 kg (181 lb), more than 9 kg (20 lb) heavier than the next heaviest competitor—and by his lack of financial support for training—he was totally self-funded. Another problem was that he was very farsighted, requiring him to wear his eyeglasses at all times, which during ski jumps fogged to such an extent that he could not see.

Edwards was informed of his qualification for the Games while working as a plasterer and residing temporarily in a Finnish mental hospital due to lack of funds for alternative accommodation (rather than as a patient). He first represented Great Britain at the 1987 World Championships and was ranked 55th in the world. This performance qualified him, as the sole British applicant, for the 1988 Winter Olympics ski jumping competition.

Edwards was the best ski jumper in the United Kingdom, setting a British record of 73.5 m in one of his Calgary jumps in 1988.

1988 Olympics

In the 1988 Olympics, Edwards competed in, and finished last in, both the 70 m and 90 m events. From the beginning, his story was embroidered with falsehoods.

They said I was afraid of heights. But I was doing sixty jumps a day then, which is hardly something someone who was afraid of heights would do.
... But was he afraid of jumping?
Of course I was. There was always a chance that my next jump would be my last. A big chance.

However, his lack of success endeared him to people around the globe. The worse he performed, the more popular he became. He subsequently became a media celebrity and appeared on talk shows around the world, appearing on The Tonight Show during the Games. The press nicknamed him "Mr. Magoo", and one Italian journalist called him a "ski dropper".

The widespread attention that Edwards received in Calgary was embarrassing to some in the ski jumping establishment. Many athletes and officials felt that he was "making a mockery" of the sport. Shortly after the Olympics finished, the entry requirements were strengthened in order to make it nearly impossible for anyone to follow his example.

At the closing ceremony, the president of the Organizing Committee, Frank King, singled out Edwards for his contribution: "At these Games, some competitors have won gold, some have broken records, and some of you have even soared like an eagle."

The Eddie "The Eagle" Rule

In response to the Edwards phenomenon, in 1990, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) instituted what became known as the Eddie the Eagle Rule, which requires Olympic hopefuls to compete in international events and be placed in the top 30 percent or the top 50 competitors, whichever is fewer.

Edwards failed to qualify for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, and the 1994 Games in Lillehammer, Norway. He got a five-year sponsorship from Eagle Airlines, a small British charter company, to fund his attempt to reach the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan but failed to qualify for those as well.

Return to Calgary

On 13 February 2008, Edwards made a return visit to Calgary to take part in festivities marking the twentieth anniversary of the Games. During his visit, he rode the zip-line at Canada Olympic Park with a member of the Jamaican bobsled team (the ride simulates the speed of a ski-jumper) and led a procession of skiers down the slopes of the park while carrying an Olympic torch.

Torchbearer

Edwards was chosen as a torchbearer in the relay for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. He ran with the torch on 7 January 2010 in Winnipeg.

Creative efforts

Edwards released a book (and a video) called On the Piste. He recorded a song in Finnish entitled "Mun nimeni on Eetu" ("My name is Eetu"), though he does not speak Finnish. Later, he recorded another Finnish language song: "Eddien Siivella" ("On Eddie's Wing"). Both of these songs were composed and written by popular Finnish artist Irwin Goodman.

Commercial success

Edwards appeared in a number of advertising campaigns, e.g. on television, promoting cars, and commanded fees of £10,000 an hour. Nevertheless, he declared bankruptcy in 1992, claiming that a trust fund for his earnings was not set up properly. In 2003, he graduated from De Montfort University in Leicester with a degree in law. "I've been interested in law since taking out a civil action against my trustees 10 years ago," he said in a 2001 interview.

For several years in the early 2000s, he co-hosted a Sunday morning show with Trish Campbell on BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

In December 2005, he appeared on Five's The Gadget Show, testing new skiing gadgets with one of the presenters.

He appeared on BBC1's The One Show on 20 November 2008 in a film celebrating "The Great British Underdog" in the wake of John Sergeant's resignation from Strictly Come Dancing.

In January 2010, Edwards advertised Churchill car insurance, the adverts being aired to coincide with his carrying the Olympic Torch on 7 January 2010.

In 2011, he returned to Planica in Slovenia and visited one of the biggest ski jumps in the world. For the first time, he brought his family with him under the ski slopes and made a successful promotion video Eddie Lands in Slovenia, while visiting places like Kranjska Gora, Lake Bled, Ljubljana, Postojna Caves, Lipica, Portoroz and Piran. Video was later posted on the YouTube and many UK websites. Edwards described the visit to Slovenia as one of the family's nicest trips so far.

On 25 February 2012, he appeared as a competitor on episode 2 of BBC1's Let's Dance for Sport Relief, 2012 and got through to the final on most public votes.

On 24 March 2012, he appeared as a competitor on the first Winter Wipeout (Total Wipeout) celebrity special. He came first in each round and won the final, beating Tony Mortimer (formerly of pop group East 17) and Steven Arnold (Ashley Peacock of the UK soap Coronation Street).

In January 2013, Edwards competed in the ITV celebrity diving programme Splash!. Previously involved in gymnastics, he was determined to master some difficult dives. He did an inward 1.5 somersault pike from 10 m in the semi-final. In the final, he did a synchro dive with Tom Daley. He later became the winner, beating competitors Jake Canuso and Linda Barker by public vote.

In December 2013, Edwards competed unsuccessfully in the BBC quiz show "Eggheads" on a celebrity edition.

In January 2014, he commentated on the Channel 4 TV programme The Jump, where 12 famous people took part in winter sports. As part of each episode, Edwards jumped off the largest of three ski jumps which gives the series its name. In the same year he appeared as a guest on the ITV2 comedy show Fake Reaction.

Biopic

A film chronicling the life story of Edwards has been planned by Irish director Declan Lowney since 2007. Comedian Steve Coogan was originally chosen for the title role. Edwards was said to be pleased with the choice but also joked that Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise would be better suited for the role. In 2009, Lowney announced that Rupert Grint would instead play the part. The film was scheduled to begin production once Grint completed work on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2 but it did not go ahead.

On 23 December 2014, it was reported that Gary Barlow was in talks to write the entire soundtrack for the film. On 23 January 2015, it was reported that Edwards may perform the stunts in the movie about his life.

Matthew Vaughn will now produce a Dexter Fletcher directed biopic, with Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman confirmed to star as Eddie and his trainer. The film, Eddie the Eagle, is due for release on February 26, 2016.