1. Background

2. 1988 Winter Olympics
    The Eddie "The Eagle" Rule 

3. Return to Calgary and other media appearances

4. Biopic

5. See also

6. Bibliography

7. References

8. External links

In 2016, he was portrayed by Taron Egerton in the biographical film Eddie the Eagle.

Background

Edwards was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. His family calls him by his given name, Michael. "Eddie" is a nickname derived by schoolfriends from his surname.^[3] Having not made the grade as a downhill skier, he decided to switch to ski jumping as there were no other British ski jumpers with whom to compete for a place.^[4]

Edwards began jumping under the eye of John Viscome and Chuck Berghorn in Lake Placid, New York, using Berghorn's equipment, although he had to wear six pairs of socks to make the boots fit. He was disadvantaged 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, being totally self-funded.^[5] Another problem was that he was very nearsighted, wearing thick glasses under his goggles, which would mist up at altitude.^[5]

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).^[6] He first represented Great Britain at the 1987 World Championships in Oberstdorf in Bavaria, West Germany 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 one of the best ski jumpers in the United Kingdom, holding the British record of 73.5 m in one of his Calgary jumps in 1988.^[7] In 1994 his record was overhauled by James Lambert.^[8]

1988 Winter Olympics

During the 1988 Winter Olympics, Edwards competed in and finished last in both the 70 m and 90 m events. In the 70 m, he scored 69.2 points from two jumps of 61.0 m; second-last Bernat Solà Pujol of Spain scored 140.4 points from 71 m and 68.5 m jumps; winner Matti Nykänen of Finland had 229.1 points from 89.5 m jumps. In the 90 m, Edwards scored 57.5 points from 71 m and 67 m jumps; second-last Todd Gilman of Canada had 110.8 points from 96 m and 86.5 m; Nykänen won again, with 224 points from 118.5 m and 107 m.^[9]

From the beginning, the press version of his story was "embroidered with falsehoods".^[11] "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."^[10]

His lack of success endeared him to people around the globe. 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".^[11]

At the closing ceremony, the president of the Organizing Committee, Frank King, singled out Edwards for his contribution. King said, looking at the competitors, "You have broken world records and you have established personal bests. Some of you have even soared like an eagle."^[12]

The Eddie "The Eagle" Rule

The widespread attention that Edwards received in Calgary was embarrassing to some in the ski jumping establishment. In 1990, shortly after the Olympics finished, the entry requirements were strengthened in order to make it nearly impossible for anyone to follow his example: 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% or the top 50 competitors, whichever is fewer.^[13]

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 support his attempt to reach the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, but failed to qualify for those as well.^[10]

Return to Calgary and other media appearances

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.^[14][15]

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.^[16]

Edwards released a book (and a video) called On the Piste.^[17]

In 1991 he recorded a single in Finnish entitled "Mun nimeni on Eetu" ("My name is Eetu"), B-sided with "Eddien Siivellä" ("On Eddie's Wing") though he does not speak Finnish. Edwards learned the lyrics phonetically and the song reached no.2 in the Finnish charts.^[18]. The songs were written by Finnish singer Irwin Goodman.^[19].

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.^[20] In 2003, he graduated from De Montfort University in Leicester with a degree in law.^[21] "I've been interested in law since taking out a civil action against my trustees 10 years ago," he said in a 2001 interview.^[22]

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 promotion video, "Eddie 'the Eagle' Lands in Slovenia",^[23] while visiting places such as Kranjska Gora, Lake Bled, Ljubljana, Postojna Caves, Lipica, Portorož and Piran. The video was later posted on YouTube and many UK websites. Edwards described the visit to Slovenia as one of the family's nicest trips so far.^[23]

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. His performances were accompanied by the Royal British Legion Band & Corps Of Drums Romford.^[24]

In 2013, he won the first series of the British celebrity diving programme Splash!, mentored by Tom Daley.^[25]

In January 2014, he commentated on the Channel 4 TV programme The Jump,^[26] where 12 famous people took part in winter sports.^[27] As part of each episode, Edwards jumped off the largest of three ski jumps. In the same year he appeared as a guest on the ITV2 comedy show Fake Reaction.

In 2017 he returned to the ski jumping facilities at Canada Olympic Park, where he had taken part in the Olympics in 1988, to make some jumps that were his first in over 15 years.^[28]

On Thursday 21st of March 2019 Eddie “the eagle” Edwards was the guest speaker at the Guild of Technicians hosted by Rentokil Pest Control.

Biopic

A film chronicling the life story of Edwards had been planned by Irish director Declan Lowney since 2007. Comedian Steve Coogan was originally chosen for the title role.^[29] 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.^[10] 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.^[30]

On 23 December 2014, it was reported that Gary Barlow was in talks to write the entire soundtrack for the film.^[31] On 23 January 2015, it was reported that Edwards might perform the stunts in the movie about his life.^[32]

Matthew Vaughn produced and Dexter Fletcher directed the biopic, starring Taron Egerton as Edwards, and Hugh Jackman as his trainer.^[33] The film, Eddie the Eagle, was released in early 2016.

See also

• Eric Moussambani: Eric "the Eel", another famously unlikely Olympian
• Philip Boit
• Trevor Misipeka
• Vinko Bogataj
• Steven Bradbury
• Elizabeth Swaney

Bibliography

• {{cite book|last=Edwards|first=Eddie|title=Eddie the Eagle: My Story|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e76lCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT12|accessdate=17 April 2016|date=2016-02-28|publisher=Graymalkin Media|isbn=9781631680649}}

References

External links

• {{Commonscat-inline|Michael Edwards}}
• {{Official website|http://eddie-the-eagle.co.uk}}
• {{IMDb name|1638040}}
• BBC Gloucestershire interview with Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards February 2008
• Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards Speaking Profile and Video

• Live in Madrid
• Live in Manchester
• Live in Manchester (Lisa Stansfield album)
• Live in Manila (video)
• Live in Marciac
• Live in Memphis
• Live in Mississippi
• Live in Montana (Red Elvises album)
• Live in Montreal
• Live in Montreal (album)
• Live in Montreal (disambiguation)
• Live in Montreal EP
• Live in Montreal EP (album)
• Live in Montreal (Nikki Yanofsky album)
• Live in Montreal (October Sky album)
• Live in Montreux 1971
• Live in Moscow
• Live in Moscow (album)
• Live In Moscow (Red Elvises DVD)
• Live in Moscow (Red Elvises DVD)
• Live in Munich (album)
• Live in Munich (Misery Index album)
• Live in Munich (The Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra album)
• Live in Nashville
• Live in Nashville, TN