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Eddie Edwards - the worst thing to happen to English snow sports?
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Eddie the Eagle! A plasterer from Cheltenham, Eddie Edwards was born on 5 December 1963. He made his debut in the 1987 World Championships in Obertsdorf where he effortlessly secured last place, thus setting the standard for the rest of his career. But, it was his horribly inept showing on the jump at the Calgary Olympics where he soared like an ‘ostrich’ that really made his name.
Today, the heroic failure of Eddie Edwards is part of Olympic folklore. Unfortunately, there is a downside: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) - whose motto is “It’s not the winning that counts, but the taking part”- and the Olympic community regard him as a joker (a ‘Mr Bean on skis’) who has made a mockery of their sport. The man on the street, however, regards Eddie as a hero, who arguably was the last true embodiment of the Olympic ideal - an amateur, whose only triumph was the struggle.
Twenty years later, the reverberations of Eddie’s heroics are still being felt in England; his legacy far from positive. The British Olympic Association (BOA) has vowed never to be so badly ‘embarrassed’ again. Any athlete wanting to compete in future Winter Olympics has first to demonstrate that s/he at the very least has an outside chance of a podium finish.
Cross country skiing
The writer of this article has now had the honour of representing Great Britain at two Master’s World Cups (Brusson, Italy in 2006 and Rovaniemi in 2007). He has also run faster than the two Kenyans who, after a brief training period in Finland, went on to represent their country at the Salt Lake City Olympics. Yet, he is still some distance from being the fastest English skier as there are many quicker and more competent skiers serving in the British armed forces; one of whom now retired lives in Espoo!
But, none of these athletes have a chance of ever competing in the Olympics, even though, based on past performances, they are virtually guaranteed to beat the competitors from Kenya, Cameroon, Thailand, Brazil, Morocco, and Portugal, among others. Had they been born a short distance over the sea in the Republic of Ireland, they would have been guaranteed a place in the Irish Olympic team.
This effectively makes the Master’s World Cup a ‘consolation prize’. The British Master’s Ski Association (BMSA) is semi autonomous and does not fall under direct control of SnowSports England or the British Olympic Association. In recent years, the BMSA has striven to advertise and promote cross country skiing in England. It now offers training holidays and on-snow Nordic skills, coaching awards and activity weeks in Northern Europe including Vuokatti, plus numerous roller skiing training days throughout England.
In its attempt to grow the sport in England the BMSA is still haunted by the spectre of Eddie Edwards. In 2006 the Olympic team was sponsored by a leading German sports manufacture. In theory this sponsorship was also available to the BMSA, but it came with strings. By accepting the sponsorship, the BMSA would have moved closer to the BOA, who could then have imposed qualifying standards for the World Master’s Cup, effectively reducing the team from 13 to a paltry four. The BMSA therefore turned down the sponsorship. Thankfully, in Rovaniemi the team was sponsored by Start without any restrictions.
At the closing ceremony of the Calgary Olympics, the president of the Games singled Eddie out for his contribution: “At this Games some competitors have won gold, some have broken records and one has even flown like an eagle.” At that moment, 100,000 people in the stadium roared “Eddie! Eddie!” It was the first time in the history of the games that an individual athlete had been mentioned in the closing speech. After the Games, Eddie became hot property and even released a record in Finland 'Mun nimeni on Eetu'. It is ironic that the most ‘successful’ winter Olympian in English history has had such a negative effect on the sport, one can only imagine what would have happened, if he had been caught doping!
An Eagle with a Heart
In July 2003, aged 39 Eddie Edwards qualified as a lawyer making him a ‘legal eagle’.
In June this year, Eddie’s sister was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Eddie did not think twice when it was discovered that he was the only family member with matching bone marrow. Both Eddie and his sister are now recovering from the procedure, which involved him having an operation to remove the bone marrow from his bloodstream.
Non-Hodgkins lymphoma is the sixth commonest cancer in the UK, with more than 9,000 diagnoses each year.
Mike Bangle is the owner of Talking English language consultancy and can be contacted at mike.bangle(at)phnet.fi Word List
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