Every now and then there comes along an underdog who steals the show. At the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, the ultimate underdog emerged as the outright hero of the Games, and he is still almost as popular today as he was 34 years ago. His name is Michael ‘Eddie’ Edwards, then a young British ski jumper who was to be rebranded by the media as “Eddie the Eagle”. During those Games he would become a mascot like superhero of the Olympics. And fame was not because of his skill as a ski jumper. In fact, it was quite the opposite. He finished last in the 70m and 90m in Calgary 1988, but his almost comical efforts made him one of the most famous underdogs in world sport. It was something totally unexpected by the young plasterer from Cheltenham in the southwest of the UK, who hardly fitted the traditional Winter Olympian profile given his working-class background. It’s Eddie the Eagle! 🦅 #TeamGB veteran ski jumper Michael ‘Eddie’ Edwards captured the hearts of his nation - and the world with the joyous sportsmanship he showed at Calgary 1988. ❤️ #StrongerTogether | @FISskijumping pic.twitter.com/bxOdYLYIjE — Olympics (@Olympics) February 3, 2022 He certainly ruffled a few feathers and, while the world embraced him, not all his fellow Olympians felt he deserved the attention he was getting. “It was one of those things; I had no idea that when I went to Calgary I was going to get christened Eddie the Eagle and get as much attention as I did,” Edwards, 58, told the Post . “Some of the members of the team were quite nice, but most didn’t like what was happening at all. #Bales2022FilmChallenge @bales1181 Day 35: The Olympics Eddie the Eagle (2015) is the true story of Michael Edwards, a skier from England who became the first to represent United Kingdom in Olympic ski jumping at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada. pic.twitter.com/rzvS7r07v8 — Jon Edward (@midgetmoxie) February 4, 2022 “[UK ski stars] Martin and Graham Bell didn’t like what was happening, the bobsledders didn’t like it. They and other members of the team were saying ‘why should he get all of this attention when I’m better at my sport than he is?’.” The lack of peer acceptance certainly did not bother him too much because it was not all negative. It was ironically athletes from Finland, one of the most established Nordic skiing nations, who embraced him, though the Norwegians were sceptical. “I had an unusual story to tell,” Edwards said. “I just ignored them. It was their problem, not mine. If somebody wanted an interview I would go and do it, and so I was getting more attention. The more attention I got the more upset some became, which was really quite funny. With the Winter Olympics beginning, I can’t help but think back to Eddie the Eagle! Young ones, you’ll need to Google it. pic.twitter.com/hHSy0NxEE9 — Mark Pugh (@MarkPugh15) February 4, 2022 “Finland, especially, they thought it was brilliant and that I did a very good job with having nothing, and saw that I was doing the best I could with what I had. “Most of the jumpers said it was great, and that all of the attention being put upon me was also put on ski jumping, and that had taken the sport from page 50 to page one of the news. “The Norwegians didn’t like it very much. They were saying ‘in Norway we’ve got 50,000 Eddie the Eagles, and we don’t send them to the Olympics’.” Edwards’ struggle for acceptance, though, did not start in Calgary. His was always fighting an uphill battle in his quest to become an Olympic skier. His willingness to help fellow skiers was seen as an “abuse of privilege” by one ski club that it led to Edwards being kicked out of the English alpine ski team. “They kicked me off the England team. One of the selectors was the manger at Gloucester Ski Centre [where I trained],” he said. “He told them that he thought I was abusing the privileges that the Gloucester Ski Club & Centre had given me over the years. “If I was skiing and someone asked if I could watch them because they were having problems turning, then I’d watch and give them some advice. But, he said I couldn’t do that, and that I had to tell them that they had to have a ski lesson and go that way.” That decision effectively stunted his early Olympic hopes, and bile still rises when he talks about it. “I still hate him to this day. I want to punch his lights out, even 40 plus years after it happened I still want to punch his lights out,” he said. As is the way of the eagle he soon honed in on a bigger prey and elevated his goals. He also felt the need to leave Britain to achieve his ambitions. Snow sports is not for the masses, not for the likes of plasterer Edwards. The financial restrictions and rejections made him aware that Britain was not the place to be. “I was quite determined, and thought the England thing is OK, but I had bigger ambitions – to go to the British team and race internationally,” he said. “You come to these challenges, and you’ve just got to either go over them, under them, around or through them. “Skiing is still really for the rich, unless you live in Europe and next to a ski resort where you can ski all day. “I went to America and started jumping, it was a lot cheaper there [than Europe] and to do [compared to alpine and lift passes] and so I kept doing it, and so it went that way.” Until that point Britain had never had a serious ski jumper, and the British Ski Federation certainly did not approve of his attempts to become one. “They weren’t giving me any support at all,” Edwards said. “I can understand why – because nobody knew anything about it. I was Britain’s first ever ski jumper.” Eddie the Eagle! pic.twitter.com/7r4tVV3LdO — Bob Moriarty (@BobMoriartyABQ) February 5, 2022 Much of his struggles was portrayed in the 2016 biopic Eddie the Eagle , although not all. The film, starring Taron Egerton as Edwards, actually made the skier’s qualifying process look easier. “In the film they moved the goalposts twice [the Olympic qualifying process],” he said. “But in real life they did it four times. First they made it 50 metres in competition. I did that, and so they made if 55, I did that, then it became 60 and then 65. “I was wondering if I was ever going to be able to qualify, and then in the end they said that they would put my name forward. I’m pretty sure they did that thinking that the British Olympic Association would not send me to Calgary.” As it happened, the BSF had not read the small print. “The BOA had this policy where if you’re the best in the UK at your sport that you then have the right to go to the Olympics,” he said. “We did by then have one or two other jumpers in Europe, but I was the best and so that gave me the right to be put forward and selected.” Nobody had anticipated that Eddie would become the star of the show, and ultimately that was to prove to be his sporting undoing. I'm looking forward to the Olympics.. Eddie the Eagle: pic.twitter.com/3DKsv72fMx — David W Pippy (@DWPippy) January 28, 2022 “When I got to Calgary the BOA were saying, ‘Oh my God what’s happened?’ They didn’t like the fact that I got more attention than the guy who won gold. They thought I was making a mockery of the sport,” he said. “They kicked me off the Olympic team, said I was never going to another Olympics, and that they didn’t like what had happened. That was it, I couldn’t jump again after that.” On returning to the UK, Edwards realised that he had become something of a star. And he was quick to make the most of the opportunities his fame brought. For the next few years he was opening shopping centres, golf courses, appearing on television and radio shows and earning a decent living. Then there was a bizarre trip to Finland where one of the country’s biggest artists, Irwin Goodman, wrote a song about him but died before they could perform a duet. “One of the big newspapers there said why not get me over and sing it as a duet, and then do a few gigs together,” Edwards said. “On the very day I went to Finland he died of a heart attack. The studio asked me to record the song myself. “I sang in Finnish, and it went to number two in the charts. It was a strange time, and I was there for six months travelling around Finland singing in pubs, clubs, at concerts and festivals.” While he earned good money, he had put his financial affairs in the hands of a trust fund, which was managed by lawyers and accountants. By 1991, Edwards was declared bankrupt. Still, he soldiered on. He went on to complete a law degree but once again funding grounded him. “At the time you had to do a legal practice course to become a lawyer, or do Bar Exams to become a barrister. Both it cost around £20, 000 (equivalent to HK$412,000 today) with no guarantee at the end of it and so I went back to plastering.” In 2016, the long-anticipated and heart-wrenching biopic, Eddie the Eagle , hit the big screens, and Edwards’ popularity once again soared, gaining a new generation of fans. Now he is back to touring the world, making celebrity television appearances, and, of course, doing the odd bit of plastering when the going gets slack. But how true to life was the film? #Bales2022FilmChallenge 4 February - Olympics 'Eddie the Eagle' (2016) is based on the true story of Brit Olympiad Michael 'Eddie' Edwards. It's a great, feel good movie that reminds us it's more fun rooting for the sincerest, most earnest of underdogs. pic.twitter.com/3EZASWpqGe — Robin Still Rocks✌📽🍿🎭🎸🦝🇺🇲 (@robinstillrocks) February 3, 2022 “I think the film is about 90 per cent true,” he said. “But it only represents about 15-20 per cent of my life as a ski jumper. There was so much more they could have put in.” Even though they focused on the romanticism of his journey it still wins his approval. “My life was a lot worse than even the film portrayed. But they captured the heart and essence of my story. I still love the film; it still makes me cry when I watch it. They did such a great job,” Edwards said. Was chasing the dream and the nightmare it became times all worthwhile? “No matter how hard things got I never gave up, because I loved the sport and wanted to be out there doing it,” he said. Gold medal or not, Eddie the Eagle is probably the only name that most will remember from those 1988 Games.