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It’s been years since Michael Edwards, a member of the British ski jumping squad, competed at the Calgary Winter Olympic Games in Canada in 1988. He came last in both the 70 m and 90 m jumps and got half the points of the competitor who finished second to last. It wasn’t much of a surprise for his team members as they were aware that he had barely qualified for the Olympics. But despite his poor record, he was so affable that he touched people’s hearts. He even got the nickname Eddie the Eagle, which was an ironic reference to his lack of ski-jumping skills. There was always something heroic about Edwards. As he was self-taught, he didn’t have the appropriate technique and his jumps were terrifying, but he had been jumping for less than two years while his rivals had been at it since they were toddlers. He was also a working-class lad competing in an elite world of the posh and privileged. That was why the establishment hated him, but the rest of us loved him. The British squad’s resentment only grew after their return from Canada as they were instantly forgotten, but Eddie the Eagle was in huge demand. Edwards had gone out to Calgary as an unknown amateur and returned home a star.
I met him in London, where he was promoting the film Eddie the Eagle, based on his life story. The film is about that classic British stereotype, the plucky loser. From the first scene, we see the hapless, hopeless Edwards, determined to succeed but destined to trip up over his laces at every finishing line. The young Eddie of the film wears leg callipers, and is constantly discouraged from sport by his father. However, the reality was somewhat different from the film. Young Eddie was in fact an able sportsman. He played football, cricket, rugby, volleyball. He dabbled in everything, and was frequently on the winning side. He even had trials as a goalkeeper for his local team, Cheltenham. Obviously, like all competitors, he had some mishaps, but I think the filmmakers shouldn’t have focused only on that.
When Michael Edwards isn’t plugging the life story of Eddie the Eagle, he works as a builder and plasterer. While few Britons can remember the names of the world-class jumpers he competed against, today he still remains a household name. However, although everyone knows who Eddie the Eagle is, he can walk anonymously in the streets of Britain because all his characteristic features, the thick rug of hair, the specs and the chin which had the shape of a ski-slope, have gone. When you talk to him, there is still something ineffably Eddie about him, mainly the guilelessness and ever-ready giggle. True, I remember that in Calgary in 1988 he didn’t fly like an eagle, he was probably closer to an ostrich, but although he finished last, he hardly disgraced himself because he completed his jumps and displayed consistent good humour. It seems he has earned people’s abiding affection by somehow epitomizing the Olympic motto, ‘The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part’.

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Interviewer: To continue with our series of programmes on what the world of work is like and to help you choose your career path, today I’m talking to a parliamentary assistant. Sandra, how did your career begin?