3 days ago
Eddie the Eagle reveals he 'ate from bins' before Olympics
EDDIE 'The Eagle' has revealed he was a 'charity case' before the Olympics, eating from bins.
The ski-jumper had only been involved in the sport for 22 months, practising at Gloucester Ski Centre's dry slopes ahead of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.
He described himself as a 'charity case,' preparing for Lake Placid's 1980 Olympics by shovelling snow in exchange for free training on the slopes, using equipment from lost property.
Eddie - who now lives in the Stroud area - told the BBC's Sport's Greatest Underdogs podcast: "I was scraping food out of bins.
"The more I could ski jump, the better I could get and, even if I had $100 left, I wanted to make that $100 last.
"I thought: 'If I just buy bread and milk and scrape food out of bins and sleep in the car, I can stay out here for three months.'"
Eddie, born Michael Edwards, who is originally from Cheltenham, says he even slept in his car in -25°C weather.
Taking advice from his father, a builder, Eddie would befriend chefs and hotel kitchen workers in the hopes of getting a free meal.
He said: "I asked hotels if they needed any work doing... I met two brothers and they let me cut their grass and gave me a free meal.
"One of the brothers was a chef.
"If I was passing the hotel and he saw me, he'd open the window and lob me a tin of beans or pears.
"I'd think 'oh great, that's my meal for tonight'.
"For the other jumpers at the time, they stayed in five-star hotels.
"They had the doctors, psychologists, and there was just me on my own.
"I was like a charity case really.
"It was tough - but I had so much fun."
