Cult ski jumper Michael Edwards, better known as “Eddie the Eagle”, said he lived in a psychiatric ward for several weeks before the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.
“I remember the circumstances under which I found out that I was going to the Olympics. I was in Finland at the time, there I was invited to train with the Finnish team. I had no accommodation, no money for a hotel “, said the Briton in an interview with the Hungarian “Sportradio”.
According to Edwards, one of the jumpers worked as a painter and plasterer on the construction of a psychiatric clinic. “He took me to the hospital reception and said who I was, that I was training with the Finnish team and that I was trying to come to Calgary for the Olympics. In the building of this psychiatric hospital, one of the wings was renovated and I was allowed live in one of the rooms. I slept there for about five weeks.”
Accommodation in psychiatric “cozy and warm”
It was “cozy and warm,” said the 58-year-old, who gained a reputation as a crowd favorite with his performances in Canada, while the Finns were “very nice.” Then he received confirmation of his participation in the Olympics from the British Olympic Committee.
Despite the mixed performances in Calgary, his popularity then became “gigantic”, recalled Edwards, who took last place on both the normal and large hills.
In the rest of 1988 alone, he earned £700,000 (around €830,000 today). “I was making 10,000 an hour by opening a mall. I’ve sometimes made 65,000 in a day.”
Not an eagle, but an “ostrich”
Edwards admitted that he didn’t fly like an eagle on the hill, but “like an ostrich”.
In 1990 the IOC then changed the rules and the ski jumping exotic failed to qualify for the Winter Games in Albertville two years later.
Today “Eddie the Eagle” travels all over the world for lectures. “And when I’m not doing it, I build and renovate houses. I still like to get my hands dirty and do my daily work. I plaster and build,” said the cult star.