Eddie The Eagle Edwards may not have triumphed at the Olympics but his courage and determination won the hearts of sports fans the world over. After appearing at the 1988 winter games in Calgary, Canada, he became one of the most talked about sportsmen of his generation. With the Turin winter games just weeks away - and a film of his life in the pipeline - reporter Sian Davies spoke to Britain's only ever Olympic ski-jumper at his North Woodchester home.

FOR Eddie - who had always dreamed of competing in the Olympics - just making it to the Calgary games was like winning a gold medal.

Coming from a country with no snow, having no sponsorship, no training facilities and little in the way of coaching, the odds were against him.

Through grit and determination - and by being the only one - however, Eddie was selected.

"It was brilliant because it had been a dream of mine since I was eight, I didn't think I would be doing the ski-jump then though," said Eddie, now 42.

"It was such a prestigious thing - really huge - and the winter Olympics are much smaller compared to the summer games.

"It was fantastic staying at the Olympic Village with the rest of the British team.

"Everywhere you went you got attention.

"There were 85,000 people watching us compete and the atmosphere was fantastic so it was great just to be a part of it."

Eddie had the nation gripped - spectators eagerly watched as Britain's first ever ski-jumper plunged over a snowy mountain edge, risking life and limb as he went.

Eddie - proving he hasn't lost his light-hearted approach - now describes it as 'a good crack'.

"It was scary and I was always scared but never enough not to do it," said Eddie.

"I was always nervous to the point where it would make me concentrate. "I broke a few bones over the years but that just made me more determined to get it right the next time."

Despite coming last - having jumped a meagre 238ft compared to the gold medal winner's 403ft - it is Eddie and not the champion who is still remembered for the 1988 Olympic ski-jump.

"I was hoping for a certain degree of attention from the games because I was still a poor athlete and didn't know where my next meal would come from," he said.

"I thought if I could just get a little bit of exposure in Calgary it might help me get sponsorship so I could continue to train.

"I knew I'd get some media attention because I was Britain's first ever ski-jumper but I wasn't expecting to be christened Eddie the Eagle.

"I'd like to think it was because I exemplified the Olympic spirit - I was a ski-jumper from Britain, where there were no ski-jumps or snow and I had no sponsorship.

"But it's also because it had been my dream to go to the Olympics and I'd made my dream come true."

It was while Eddie - real name Michael Edwards - was a teenager growing up in Cheltenham that he took up skiing.

He become hooked during a school skiing trip to Italy when he was 13 and soon began spending all his free time at Gloucester dry ski slope. "I would pester my dad to take me there as much as possible and it quickly became an obsession," he said.

"I began racing in the British circuit and then the international scene and that's when I started training for the 1984 games but I wasn't picked. "After that I went to America to start racing and that's when I started to jump.

"We'd never had a British ski-jumper before so I thought I'd give it a go. But there was a downside to his fame.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) claimed he made a 'mockery' of the games while the French nicknamed him 'le Benny Hill du Ski.'

However, although he was no champion, Eddie inspired thousands in the UK to start skiing - and it rapidly became one of the most popular sports.

"After the games a lot of people thought they would give it a go," he said.

"Around 30 people come forward who wanted to try ski-jumping so a guide organised to take them out.

"Only about five went but they all broke arms or legs and I was back to being the only one again."

After the games, his fame continued to grow.

He wrote a book - Eddie's on the Piste - and released a single - Fly Eddie Fly - which he performed on Wogan.

Unfortunately, it only reached number 50 in the charts - but he had more musical success in Europe.

He was a legend in Finland, the home of Matti Nykanen, (corr) who took gold in the 1988 ski-jump.

Eddie released a single there - Mun Nimeni on Eetu - which translates as My Name is Eddie and reached number two.

"It was in Finnish so I still don't really know what I was singing," he said.

A Hollywood film of Eddie's life is also in the pipeline, which director Kirk Jones, who made Nanny Mcphee and Waking Ned, is set to produce.

Although he is still in demand for public appearances, Eddie's life is now a lot quieter than his fame-filled years in the 80s.

Having graduated from Leicester's De Montfort University a few years ago, he is now back in Gloucestershire working as a builder and plasterer around the Stroud Valleys.

It's clear he is now very much a family man as the North Woodchester house he shares with wife Samantha, 38, is scattered with family photographs and toys belonging to their 18-month-old daughter Ottilie.

And Eddie spends most of his spare time building an extension to their house.

Nearly 20 years after his Olympic debut however Eddie the Eagle is still a household name, admired by many for just giving it a go.