Eddie the Eagle fly past

Here are a few grabs from a chat I had recently with the one and only Eddie the Eagle, a sporting folk hero, eternal underdog, and a man who I hold lot in common with

It may not be cycling related - but he does actually train on a road bike these days, and rode lands End-John O”Groats too

ST; Do people still recognise you in the street?

EE: Some do yes. I’m amazed when they do, because I don’t really look like I did when I went to Calgary all those years ago.

I lost my jaw; I had an operation on my jaws, and I only wear glasses when I’m reading (not hen out and about) and now that I’m growing a bit of a beard so it will make it even harder to recognise me, but it does happen quite a lot still – mainly because of the film. Whenever they show the film there’s that renewed interest, and the do show it quite a lot in the UK.

 ST; How accurate was the film?

EE: I think the film is about 90% true, but it only represents about 15-20% of my life as a ski jumper. There was so much more they could have put in. 

My life was a lot worse than even the film portrayed. But what they did use they did really well, and they captured the heart and essence of my story. But they could have put a lot more in; they didn’t include my brother and sister. They didn’t really do much with my skiing side, it was just in the credit, they just concentrated on the ski jumping side.

But I still love the film, it still makes me cry when I watch it, they did such a great job.

 ST; Had you intended to do the 90 meter jump as well as the 70 meters?

EE; I was always planning to do it, but when I got there were a lot of problems with the wind. Where the jumps were they hit the wind. We had 4 training sessions planned before the competitions, but they kept getting cancelled because of the wind.

They were getting worried because I wasn’t a very good jumper, and if we had to jump in that wind that it would be very dangerous for me. But, it was going to be dangerous for everybody, not just me. 

They were going to stop me purely because of the conditions. They we had one clear day with no wind, and they decided that instead of having a training session that we’d just go out and do the competition.

I’d only done about 5 j=umps of a 120- meter ski jump (they were called the 90 meter back then). Everybody else had done about 20,00, against my 5. In the film is was shown as my very first, and might as well of been. After 5 you’re still not used to it, by any stretch of the imagination

ST; Is the fear of launching off the jump part of the thrill?

EE: Oh yeah. You’re always scared, but it’s important to be scared. Standing at the top of that jump, you’re certainly scared, but it makes you focussed. I didn’t want to hurt myself, and I certainly didn’t want to kill myself.

You want to jump as far as you can, but you want to be safe. I had to rely in what my trainers were telling me, and I made sure I was safe. Sometimes I di fall over and hurt myself, but I never had that bad of an accident that I though that’s’ enough. 

I always wanted to jump further, and as long as I was jumping further than the day before I carried on. I wanted to see how far I could go with the sport.