Talk:Eddie the Eagle

Eyesight
The article says he is short sighted. I always presummed he was long sighted - looking at his glasses suggests as such. Can anyone clarify this?

77.100.142.47 23:20, 9 August 2007 (UTC)WWD

I can find no indication of him being far sighted. Very few people who are far sighted need glasses to do something such as ski jump. For those of you who don't recall, far sighted typically effects reading, whereas near sighted people need glasses to see any distance. I have changed the article to near sighted to reflect the same. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.184.21.126 (talk) 01:19, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

Qualified in Australia?
The Eagle who dared to dream Claims in the "Fact File" that:


 * He shocked officials in 1988 by qualifying for the event simply because no other Brit applied and because he recorded a 77 metre jump, small by Olympic standards, in Australia.

Is anyone able to verify this, and if so, at which resort the jump was? Andjam 03:16, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

Didn't he change the jump style?
I vaguely remember these facts:

a) he didn't always jump the shortest distances b) he had a unique jump style that involved having his skis apart, apparently giving him extra lift... but he ended up with atrocious style marks partly because of that. c) at the next winter olympics all the competitors had adopted this skis-apart style... because it gave them longer distances...

Can anyone verify these? Did Eddie change the sport? WolfKeeper 02:07, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

No, I don't think he did. See:

http://www.javaperformancetuning.com/newsletter014.shtml

It was Matti Nykanen that changed the rules.WolfKeeper 02:19, 2 February 2006 (UTC)


 * It was neither Eddie nor Matti Nykänen, it was Jan Boklöv. JdeJ 09:59, 8 August 2007 (UTC)


 * But other articles say Jan invented it in 1985. I don't remember V-style at Calgary, was it used, and was Eddie one of its adoptees? MMetro (talk) 21:20, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

The Best Of British?
Is it correct to say that despite not being the best in the world, at the time of his Olympic entry, Eddie was the best ski jumper in Great Britain? If so, then it should be recorded. DavidFarmbrough 11:38, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
 * One of his Calgary jumps set a British record of 73.5m, so I think that it would be fair to say that he was the best ski jumper in Great Britain at the time. -- Derek Ross | Talk 05:21, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Eaglettes? Fine-Dining? No verification
The link to the source for "Eaglettes and Fine Dining" (Source) actually states that there was no "fine dining" or adoring female entourage:

"An online encyclopedia says, "Edwards lived the high life in Calgary, fine dining and accompanied by an adoring female entourage of 'Eaglettes.'" Please, tell me more.

I wish! At the time, one of the hotels in Calgary was putting on a cabaret show based on the Games. When I became Eddie the Eagle the performers started calling themselves the Eaglettes. I went to watch the show one night and the Eaglettes dragged me up on stage for their final song.

They came to the ski hill on one competition day but they didn't follow me around. In fact, after I became [a phenomenon]. I wasn't allowed out of the Olympic village on my own. I had to be accompanied by officials.

There was no fine dining."


 * Well that answers that. If you find something as definitive as this its probably safe to go ahead and make the edit.  I'll take this out. --Atomicskier 23:27, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

The claim the he was "scared of heights"
any source for this?--Vintagekits 12:23, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Welcome to this article's talk page, Vinny. I'm on holiday at the moment, but why don't you try a little newspaper research in your local library in England. Most Librarians will be very helpful if you explain what you are looking for. Unfortunately the "Eagle"'s fame pre-dates by a few years the on-line editions of most newspapers. Try and keep out of the sun, though, I know it can be very fierce at this time of year down south. God bless! W. Frank ✉ 17:50, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Call me Vinny or Vinny the V again and I will report you.
 * you either get a source for the detail you added or I will remove it within 48 hours.--Vintagekits 21:43, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Latest news suggests that he's not scared of heights. From The Guardian:

"They said I was afraid of heights. But I was doing 60 jumps a day then, which is hardly something someone who was afraid of heights would do."

WombatDeath 08:51, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Eddieedwards.JPG
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The Eddie 'the Eagle' Rule
That rule wasn't much or a rule, was it? Not if Eric Moussambani almost drowned while doing a "much less dangerous" sport at the Olympics, while not even being close to the rule to be allowed to participate. The IOC is supposed to be impartial, but are they? Don't tell me about "wildcards". Moussambani really was close to drowning there. And, either way, I think that a lot of people much more enjoyed seeing Edwards and Moussambani than the people who actually won the medals (and were expected to). Just my opinion. wjmt 01:55, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Interesting point, wjmt.
 * Now if you could just find a good source or two (WP:V), we can wack it into the article. W. Frank talk ✉ 07:20, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I was certainly one of the people who enjoyed seeing him. The Olympics has all these great athletes, and here was an overweight plasterer with bad eyesight who finished dead last. He was the competitor for all of us who aren't great athletes. I think that the music he used should have been Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man. Jhobson1 19:14, 16 October 2007 (UTC)


 * It does seem that the rule is inconsistent with the spirit of competition, which is what the Olympics is supposed to be all about. Captain Quirk (talk) 09:24, 13 March 2016 (UTC)
 * To be fair, I can see the need for the organisers of the Olympic Games to weed out the large numbers of wannabees who simply want to participate in Olympics so tghey have a story to tell later on, even though they suck at their sport. Without a rule like that, the competitions would be full of people like that, and you'd need a lot of preliminary rounds to eliminate them until the actual finals would run. So a rule like that is certainly legitimate. As for Moussambani: The article on him sounds like he qualified on the basis of a special rule for developing countries, which could be an exception to the "Eddie the Eagle rule". SchnitteUK (talk) 12:14, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Reasons for poor performance
Currently the article states the following:

Edwards was handicapped by his weight - at about 82 kg (181 lb), more than 9 kg (20 lb) heavier than the next heaviest competitor - and by his lack of financial support for training - he was totally self-funded - and so he finished last in both the 70 m and 90 m events

To me, the use of the word 'so' implies that these were the only two reasons that he came last. I would suggest that this is opinion (there are surely other reasons which may have contributed to his performance level, not least natural talent.) I would suggest that this be split into two factual sentences. I'll change this in a couple of days if there are no objections. Ged UK 16:14, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

I apologise for the poor edit, im not sure why the citation didnt work, have reverted the page, i request that someone enters the citation for the Eddie the Eagle Rule at page http://sport.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2161239,00.html Rory (talk) 21:22, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

I've added it where i think you were trying to. Ged UK (talk) 21:49, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

Didn't finish last?
When Eddie was interviewed by local TV stations during his visit to Calgary yesterday for the 20th anniversary celebrations, he mentioned that in point of fact he ''didn't" come last, that apparently a French athlete actually finished ranked lower because of a broken leg. Can anyone verify this? 23skidoo (talk) 13:57, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
 * That does vaguely ring a bell, but surprisingly the olympic site doesn't seem to have records. Ged UK (talk) 16:13, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Arm-flapping
My memory of footage of the time (not reliable) is that Eddie had to wave his arms in circles as he went through the air, to correct his stance so that he would land the right way up. More skilled ski-jumpers took off right so that they didn't need to do this. And this was what gave him his "Eagle" name.

This may all be a figment of my imagination; but if anyone cam confirm it, I think it's worth mentioning. Maproom (talk) 21:33, 19 February 2008 (UTC)


 * He certainly wobbled his arms, but I'm not sure if that's where he got the nickname from. I suspect that is was just an easy bit of journalism by some British media about the only person we'd ever had (or ever have!) who flew through the air quite like that! I'll have a look see if i can find anything. Ged UK (talk) 22:12, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

"the Eagle"
"The Eagle" is surely a proper noun - there's only one Eagle and that is Eddie Edwards. Isn't this article misnamed? --kingboyk (talk) 18:40, 22 April 2008 (UTC)


 * I;m not sure, but I was rather under the impression that it is a proper noun because the 'E' is capitalised. Unhelpfully, the wikilink doesn't talk about 'the' in a comparable context. Ged UK (talk) 18:45, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Moved. --kingboyk (talk) 15:12, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

Top 50 single
That Eddie Edwards had a single make the UK top 50 is a total fiction. No such entry exists in the Guinness Book of UK Hit Singles, which includes the UK top 75, let alone the Top 50. I have deleted this line. Vauxhall1964 (talk) 21:25, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Personal best
What is the source of a personal best of 115 m in 1997 (see infobox)? Hobbema (talk) 02:03, 16 March 2016 (UTC)

"Citation needed" pollution
The section titled "Return to Calgary and other media appearances" has a "citation needed" on nearly every sentence, certainly every claim. None of the claims sound unrealistic, and I don't think citations are actually going to help the article, it is just good practice. So I'd ask future editors to not mark each and every sentence with "citation needed". Everyone will understand that citations are missing, and their addition would be appreciated with only a couple of examples. It also seems unlikely that any single person is going to get all the citations needed, and it even seems likely no one will ever fix all of them.The article is rendered nearly unreadable with all the markups. The alternative is to delete the uncited claims, and this would be a preferable solution also. If this problem is not addressed I will just delete all of the questionable sentences. There's no reason to pollute articles in this way. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cuvtixo (talk • contribs)

2017 comment
I would like to point out that the statement "he narrowly missed the Great Britain team for that event for the 1984 Games" is totally false. In order to qualify for the British Senior Team, from which the Olympic team was selected, he would have first been in the British Junior team. I was a member of the Junior team from 1979-81, and had never heard of him until he became a ski jumper. It was, and still is, a small world, and it is simply impossible that neither I nor my former team mates would not have known him if he had been anywhere near selection for the Olympics. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 186.222.60.227 (talk) 21:07, 30 January 2017 (UTC)

Requested move 18 May 2018

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: moved as requested per the discussion below. Dekimasu よ! 19:47, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards → Eddie the Eagle – Eddie the Eagle is his clear common name, the first line of this even says he's "known as Eddie the Eagle". His name is Michael Edwards, his common name is Eddie the Eagle, the name Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards doesn't even make any sense, as Eddie Edwards is not a name ever used by or for him. And he's clearly the primary topic for "Eddie the Eagle", as that redirects here. Joseph2302 (talk) 15:02, 18 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Support per nom, per common and most familiar name, and per the 2016 film Eddie the Eagle. Randy Kryn (talk) 16:05, 18 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Support per nom. No such user (talk) 09:57, 21 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Support per nom and this is not how we title articles. -- Necrothesp (talk) 14:01, 23 May 2018 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.