“As a child, I was always getting into risky situations with the potential to hurt myself, but mum and dad never stopped me doing what I wanted to do, and they assumed that if I fell and hurt myself, I would learn from that and maybe not do it again.”

English ski jumper and Olympian

Michael David Edwards, known as Eddie the Eagle or Eddie Edwards, is an English ski jumper and Olympian. He is remembered for becoming the first competitor to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping in 1988. At the Calgary Winter Olympics, he finished last in both the normal hill and large hill events, but his place in the Games made him widely known. He later held the British ski jumping record from 1988 to 2001. Edwards also tried amateur speed skiing and stunt jumping, including a jump over six buses.