Eddie the Eagle thrills at the New Year's ski jumping

Eddie the Eagle — who hears this name will fondly remember times when the Olympic spirit was still at the top. At least with that audacious British ski jumper who flew into the hearts of ski jumping fans in Calgary in 1988. No one remembers the third, fourth, or fifth place from the games in Canada, but everyone remembers the last-placed competitor — Michael Edwards.

Hardly surprising, then, that the Brit was celebrated as a serial winner at the New Year’s Jump in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Even today, at age 50, his popularity remains. And he mainly wants to use it to promote ski jumping further in his homeland. In a long conversation with Peter Riedel on the sidelines of the New Year’s Jump, the two winter sports enthusiasts not only found that they share the same birth year (1963), but also share the same visions and hopes for ski jumping on the island. 

How can the youth development program in British ski jumping be promoted so that at future Olympic Games the Britons are not just laughed at, but are respected for their performances? The first push is made with today’s conversation. Fortunately, it’s also the time of New Year’s resolutions, because despite Edwards’s cult status in his homeland, it will probably take longer for the Brits to be fully convinced by these flying ski ninjas.

With a bundle of issues of the Ski Jumping Hill Book “JUMP! The Most Beautiful Ski Jumping Hills in the World“, handed to him by Peter Riedel, Eddie the Eagle returns home from the Four Hills Tournament still highly motivated. And he can thereby demonstrate to the critics at least one thing: the path to becoming a ski jumping nation may be rough, but no other venue leaves such a lasting impression as a ski jump hill.