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People say I wasn't a real athlete, but I trained hard. It's possible to take something seriously and still have fun at it, you know.
People seemed to appreciate how much I wanted to pursue something I loved. They seemed to understand how much ski jumping meant to me.
I wore No. 24 at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada - one bib on the back and one on the front - and those are like my medals.
I would never think of asking a girl out on the High Street or the disco or at school. But on the ski slope, I would chat to all the girls.
I've never really let any kind of negative things affect me, generally. I would take a positive out of the most desperately horrible situation.
I want to prove to the skeptics that I'm not a clown. I'm very serious about what I do. I want to be a good ski jumper who has a sense of humor.
Americans are very much 'Win! Win! Win!' In England, we don't give a fig whether you win. It's great if you do, but we appreciate those who don't.
I actually had huge problems with my glasses steaming up all the time. I had to train very carefully around the limitations caused by wearing them.
There are so many world-class athletes who are great at their sport, but they're so boring. They don't talk, and they can't be interviewed very well.
I was a latchkey kid. Every afternoon, I would walk home from school, let myself in, make myself a banana buttie, and watch telly until Mum came home.
When I trained with the Japanese team, there we'd be singing Oasis songs at the top of our voices at the top of the jumps. People thought we were daft.
It had been a dream of mine to go to an Olympic Games since I was about seven years old. I didn't know I'd do it ski jumping, but that's how it turned out.
On the street, I'll hear, 'You made the Olympics for me,' or 'I love what you represented.' Only occasionally is it, 'You were a flop, an also-ran, a loser.'
I had no money, no training facilities, no snow, no ski jumps, no trainer, but I still managed to ski jump for my country - and getting there was my gold medal.
Both parents were hard-working and made me work for my pocket money by doing household chores. That taught me the value of money and gave me a strong work ethic.
My dentist said my teeth were wearing away at the back because I couldn't bite. My top jaw was broken and brought forward, and my bottom jaw was broken and put back.
A lot of people think I'm really outgoing and confident, but I'm not. I'd much rather sit in a corner and read my book and my paper. I'm quite happy with my own company.
I like nothing more than walking down a country lane or along a mountain path - it's not proof that there is anything bigger than ourselves, but I feel very much at peace.
That James Bond movie? The one where Bond skis off a cliff, shucks his skis, and parachutes to the ground? That's for me. That's what I want to be. A stuntman in a Bond movie.
The FIS, BSF, and British Olympic Association have been trying to stop me competing internationally. They don't like the fact that I laugh and have fun and entertain the crowd.
I think because I'm so naturally happy and unaffected and open, people thought I didn't take the jumping seriously. You're up that high, believe me - you take it very seriously.
For all my 'Eddie the Eagle' goofing around before the camera while in training for the Calgary Olympics in 1988, I was never less than 100 per cent serious on every single jump.
My dad supported me by working extra hours and giving me a little bit of extra money. He bought my camper van for me so I could go into Europe and drive from competition to competition.
I've fractured my skull twice, damaged a kidney, snapped a cruciate ligament in my knee, and broken all manner of bones, including my jaw. And I count myself very lucky it hasn't been worse!
I was exemplifying the Olympian who took up a challenge as a sportsman, without a trainer, in a country without mountains and without snow. And, inside of two years, I was representing my country.
I receive kindness every day. I love to smile when I'm out and about, and if someone smiles back, which happens about half the time, I think that's an act of kindness every couple of minutes in my day.
I was an expert skier who set his sights on going to the 1988 Olympics in Canada to represent Britain, and went from novice ramps to the 120-metre jump in five months. That's possible only with utter focus.
The only airline I avoid like the plague is Ryanair. I don't like that, when you book, there are then all of these little extras to pay for, and you end up paying more than just flying with British Airways.
It was while I was in the mental hospital that I got my letter from the British Olympic Association saying, 'Congratulations. You've been picked to go to the Olympic Games.' I kept stressing I wasn't a patient.
After my ski jumping career finished, I went back to school to study law, and now I travel between five to 20 times a year doing after-dinner speaking, motivational talks, appearances, openings, TV and radio shows.
It's not been a bad life, and I do know that I could never have been a world champion. All I ever wanted to do was be the best I could with what I had, which wasn't very much, really. And that's what I think I did.
We were not rich by any means. My dad was a plasterer and worked long hours - I hardly ever saw him when I was growing up. He had always gone to work before I woke up, and usually, I would be in bed before he came home.
I always know that people will only remember me for my efforts in Calgary which, I must admit, seem without doubt to have kept the name alive. But I honestly love law and really hope it can take off for me. I'm going for it.
I did a tandem parachute jump when I opened a golf course in Atlanta, Georgia. I jumped out of a plane at 15,000 feet to land on the first tee, and then I played a couple of holes with golfer Arnold Palmer. That was brilliant.
When I started competing, I was so broke that I had to tie my helmet with a piece of string. On one jump, the string snapped, and my helmet carried on farther than I did. I may have been the first ski jumper ever beaten by his gear.
Ski jumping is just 10 per cent physical, 90 per cent mental. Some people can't do that. It's not just to do with the fear at the top. It takes a lot of guts to go off the top, but it takes 100 times more courage to jump off the end.
If there were some people who considered me a joke, I'm sorry about that. But I did not do it for any other reason except that I loved to ski jump, and I had hopes that by my doing it, other people in my country would take up the sport.
If you are in your sport for your country, you should be able to go to the Olympic Games and represent your sport for your country bringing people together in the interests of sport. It's a fantastic Olympic ideal, and I uphold it as much as I can.
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.
Some people thought I wasn't taking the sport seriously because I was always laughing and having fun, but I loved my skiing, I loved my jumping, and I thought, 'Well, why not have a smile on my face when I'm doing something that I really, really love doing,' and that's how I was.
In 1988, I earned something like £700,000. Yeah! I was earning 10 grand an hour opening shopping centres. Yeah! The most I earned in one day was 65 grand. I opened the Alton Towers fun ride in the morning, did a commercial in the afternoon and an appearance at a nightclub in the evening. Sixty-five grand in one day!