Michael Edwards – born 5 December 1963 in Cheltenham, England - was a simple man but became Britan’s most (maybe only) famous ski-jumper of all time!

His uniqueness and his honest ambitions soon got him the nickname “Eddie the Eagle”. Funny glasses, clumsiness and quite short jumps were his trademarks. But although Eddie was a quite poor jumper compared to the other contestants of the 1988 Winter Olympics he made it British record holder: 73.5m in one of his Calgary jumps in 1988.

He was the darling of the press as well as an idol of the public, but what is he doing now?

After being bilked by his trustees (claiming a trust fund for his earnings was not set up properly) Edwards had to declare bankruptcy and decided to sue. Due to this unfortunate incident he became very interested and later started studying law which in he earnded a degree De Montfort University in Leicester. In 1999 he published the autobiographical book On the piste that will might be picturized soon with Steeve Coogan as leading actor. In these days the Eagle still earns money doing promoting appearences at tv-shows, sport events etc. as well as a skiing-teacher and bricklayer. Since his wife died in 2004 he is a single father raising 5 kids on his own.

Keep on flying, Eddie!

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