VANCOUVER — Eddie the Eagle is flying back to Canada.
Michael Edwards, the inexperienced and unorthodoxed ski jumper from England who became a fan favourite during the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, will carry the flame during the torch relay for the Vancouver Games.
Edwards is scheduled to carry the torch in Winnipeg in January — one of 15 special international torchbearers, mostly athletes, who will be part of the relay.
He had been ski jumping for just two years when he became the first British man to compete in the sport at the Olympics, and crowds of fans chanting his name became an iconic image of the Calgary Games.
Edwards, whose thick glasses magnified his eyes and fogged up when he jumped, finished dead last in both of his ski jumping events.
Now in his 40s, Edwards works as a home builder in the United Kingdom but returned to Calgary last year for the 20th anniversary of the ’88 Games.