Morzine Shuttle.pdf
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08/11/2011
11:20
‘I’m on the telly! I’m doing Lets Dance for Sport Relief and I won the last round. I’ve been shortlisted for Dancing on Ice twice now but I’d rather do Strictly if I’m honest. I’m also a property developer and I’m busy building three houses on my land in Stroud, Gloucestershire, which is where I was brought up. The building work keeps me fit and active, it’s my bread and butter. But what I love most is the PR work I do, public speaking all over the world, particularly in the US and Canada. I also speak on anything between 4 and 14 cruises each year, people are still really interested in my story, they find it motivational’. And so they should. Eddie first skied on Gloucester dry ski slope. He loved it so much he’d return every night after school, every weekend and every school holiday, working for a couple of hours on the ski hire desk to earn his time on the slope. But when it came to turning a hobby into a professional career the odds were stacked against him. It’s said that his eyesight was poor, he was carrying a few extra pounds in weight, he was scared of heights and he had no sponsorship or funding. ‘I became an Olympic ski jumper partly by accident and partly by design. It took me just 22 months to learn to ski jump. I went from being a total beginner to doing 22 meter jumps, which was far enough to qualify for the Olympics. But there isn’t a ski jump training facility in the UK so I hitched my way around the Alps, sleeping anywhere I could find, even in a mental hospital at one point! I’d trade my time and do odd jobs for people in return for food and somewhere warm to sleep. I met a lot of people and they were inspired by my objective, which spurred me on’. As Britain’s first ever ski jumper, the press loved him. ‘Eddie the Eagle’ was born in Calgary and coming last in the event was all part of it. Eddie knew from the start that he wouldn’t beat anyone but his spirit and personality added a human touch to the Olympics. ‘It was my dream to get to Calgary. The Winter Olympics were usually really boring, especially if you’re from the UK. We didn’t do particularly well in winter sports as a rule but I wanted to make Calgary different. I wasn’t one of those robots, competing with brute force and ignorance. I was there to represent a sport that I loved, whether I was any good at it or not! I was a pioneer back then, I was breaking boundaries and I hoped to inspire people. That bull dog spirit that’s part of our personality in Britain.’ You might expect that in this Olympic year, Eddie, along with his inspiring Olympic story would have a role to play in sharing the British bulldog spirit with the rest of the country. But no. He didn’t apply for any tickets and he hasn’t been invited to any Olympic events. ‘If I got my hands on that Olympic torch I’d shove it up Seb Coe’s arse. I refuse to call him ‘Lord’. We had a very public spat on the radio because he wants to remove the ‘wild card‘ system, also known as the ‘Eddie rule’ from the Olympics. The wild card exists to give underdog countries the chance to share in the Olympic spirit and to promote new sports in different countries – African nation skiers for example. And we’ve all heard of the Jamaican bobsleigh team haven’t we? Without the wild card these stories wouldn’t exist and the games would be even more boring. The man’s an idiot.
Yodel-April-Les-Gets-12.indd 5
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15/03/2012 20:57