In ski jumping, the athlete who does not have anything strange looks strange. Climb to the top of the ramparts and then from there about 90 kilometers per hour to jump into nothingness, with no life insurance. It also requires insanity. The Finns, for example, were able to show off just a few foolish characters. The singer’s wife, Matti Nikanen, for example, was having a lot of fun. He reached the summit in 1988, winning three golds at the Olympic Games in Calgary, where Eddie, the Eagle, was the world’s weakest but assertive figure skater, was unlucky.
It is so amazing that even today, everyone remembers him, and a movie has been made about his life. (You can read our reviews of the movie here)
From the 1970s onwards, the sport endured fewer amateur athletes in the classic sense of the word, but from time to time real athletes or craftsmen made it impossible.
Take the previously mentioned Calgary Olympics. Who would have thought Jamaica’s presidents would be there. The Caribbean, which arrived without opportunity and no background, became just stars, and then the ice is with you at home! Also thanks to movies like Eric Musambane, who almost drowned in the Sydney Olympics, or Michael Edwards, British skater who jumped half-size – what he jumped, fell – like most of his rivals.
Edwards himself admitted that he became a ski jump by accident. As a pupil, he was skiing and was relatively good in Britain, but after failing to make it to the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics in the Alps it was time to switch.
At a training camp in the US, he woke up to the fences watching it
He doesn’t even have ski jumping in Britain, he could be the first, and he doesn’t even have to fight for places.
It also seemed convincing to him that a snowboarding jump setup could be much less expensive than an alpine skier.
And then he realized the dream of every amateur athlete, pretty much single-handedly, with great results, who made it to the Olympics. He started training in the US in 1986, and he didn’t find much mountains in England, and even found less snow, so Eddie was always on the way. He toured half of Europe in his mother’s car to train on a parapet.
Because of the savings, he didn’t even choose where to live in his car, sometimes in a cowshed, sometimes in a tent, while doing all kinds of casual chores, from babysitting to lawn mowing. A Finn spent weeks in Kuopio mental hospital for lack of a better training camp.
Everyone helped him, the Austrians gave him a slide, the Germans a ski suit and the Italians’ helmet, and several national teams hosted him to train him.
He didn’t have any particularly big goals, he just wanted to be there for the Olympics. He fought this in the 1987 World Cup, he actually appeared there, and since the qualifying rules were not strict at the time, 55th place was enough for Olympic participation.
In Calgary, fans were already waiting at the airport, presumably when Eddie, nicknamed Eagle, first appeared on Molyneux. It was already revealed here that a troubled, chattering figure who would have happened to go and slice for a sunken photovoltaic door.
He also spoke out against him in competitions. When he started jumping, he used slides, a helmet, and shoes, the latter of which were so large for him that he only had six socks on his feet. The shortsighted Edwards did not befriend his glasses, and he often saw nothing of the fog.
“I always wore warm clothes and a helmet, which meant releasing all my body heat across my face. When I put on my glasses, the lenses faded. In most cases, when I was on the slope, the fog was gone, but not thirty percent.
When I jumped, I couldn’t figure out where I was in the air. It made my job very difficult.
Not only was his gear, but his fitness wasn’t ideal for ski jumping either. The best riders weigh around 60-65 lbs and Edwards is over 80.
In Calgary, he jumped impossibly short, and finally finished on large and regular ramparts, 80-90 yards from Nikkanen, the British who settled only thirty yards away. He says more about his performance, or rather his lack of jumping 40-50 meters shorter than the Spaniard he was in front of.
And this is precisely why everyone’s favorite, according to his declarations, Edwards went a little too simple, which was celebrated every time he jumped as if he were a winner. After the Olympics, tens of thousands of people rallied for him at the airport, became guests at evening shows, and were bombarded with advertising contracts.
Eddie has been a guest on Celebrity Shows since then and enjoys playing Loser time and time again, who apparently wants to know why he’s become a cult figure. Enjoy success:
I was George Clooney from skiing, and the other athletes were always too tired while I was cool and cheerful, so I lined up with the crowd.
Because of this, the rules were rewritten
Sure, he wasn’t proud of it, but with his awkwardness and ineffectiveness, he also changed the ski jump. After Calgary, only those who were in the top 50 in international competitions or were in the top 30 percent of the field could start the Olympics. This base has been known as the “Eddy Eagle” base ever since. Edwards has never been able to abide by the rule named after him: he also entered the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Olympics, but never reached any of them, despite the fact that he managed to jump an impossible distance from himself, 115 meters.
According to Edwards, with the base that bears his name, the Olympic Games have lost much of their magic. He believed that ski jumping could not be promoted if the free cards were not distributed to the weak.
Who Said The Olympics Are Only About Winners?
despise. Not forgetting, before the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, he could also run with the flames.
Edwards planned a big comeback in 2013, at the age of 50 he wanted to be a popup in the Four-Race competition, but the organizers at Garmisch didn’t want to hear that either. The risk of injuring Eddie, who had jumped over the past 17 years, was very high. He was still making his own small show in Oberstdorf, sliding a few meters from small fences.
He was able to re-enjoy the attention many believed was undeservedly received by the image of a loser.
