MovieChat Forums > Eddie the Eagle (2016) Discussion > Too bad...

Too bad...

posted 8 years ago by Edohiguma
16 replies | jump to latest

... he never won anything. He was a god awful jumper. He didn't even place in his entire career. He got into the Calgary olympics not because of skills. He got in because he was ranked as 55th of the world at the world championships.

That the IOC was then basically forced to install a rule that required participants to place in world cup events was the best thing he achieved. It kept unskilled attention grabbers like him away from the sport.

And before anyone whines "he wasn't unskilled!" Yeah, he was. Compared to even mediocre jumpers he was pretty much a safety hazard. He set the British jumping record in Calgary with a jump that put him into last position of the entire field of competitors. He then failed to qualify ever again.

The hype is utterly ridiculous.

[–] julianmarq 8 years ago

The hype is utterly ridiculous.

Is this your signature? Do you mean the hype over him? Over the movie?

If it's your signature, then ignore the rest of this comment.

If it's over him, people love an underdog. I don't, but most people do.

If it's over the movie. Absolutely nothing you mentioned makes for a bad story so... not much of a point there.
There're such things as comedy of errors and downer endings.

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"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! These are the IMDB Boards!"

[–] snagswolf 8 years ago

He got into the Calgary olympics not because of skills. He got in because he was ranked as 55th of the world at the world championships.

He got in because no one else in Great Britain had the balls to launch themselves off a 70-meter ski-jump.

Got to love how internet jockeys in their basements who criticize those who are actually out there doing things.

[–] pjmcgill142 8 years ago

The hype is utterly ridiculous.

Did you say he finished 55th at the World Championships? You probably had to be there. I remember the hype that was going on during the games... even from DownUnder.

Sure, the media used him as a bit of a joke, but still... I have stood at the top of those ski jumps. If he really was 'god awful', he would have killed himself on the first jump.

[–] johnkeen_79 8 years ago

You are obviously not understanding why he became famous or why people still have an interest him and his story all these years later.

[–] fiiiish 8 years ago

I think you have totally missed the whole point of the film and what he achieved in real life. The point is that he had a goal and he did it DESPITE everyone telling him that he couldn't. So what that he wasn't a great jumper and that he started at the age of 22 when everyone else would have been on skis aged 4. You wouldn't even get me to stand at the top of the 90m jump let alone launch off it! He had the guts and the determination and the dream - and that was what the Olympics used to be about. Now it's all about money and advertising and drug cheats and corruption and money. His jump at Calgary was a British record! Big deal that it put him 55th. He achieved his goal of being in the Olympics. THAT was his win. Not an Olympic record or a medal. Why aren't you being critical of the guy who came 54th and who would have been training from a young age? To me, that makes that person even worse of an athlete then Eddie.

I am guessing, but I imagine that he didn't qualify for the later Olympics because he was still treated as a joke. If he had been able to get proper training and chances to jump I think he would have been quite good.

So the hype is - if you want something it's up to YOU to go out and get it and it won't be easy and it will be hard work - and it will be so, so worth it in the end.

[–] Bottlebrush 8 years ago

So much agree with all you've said. I remember Eddie the Eagle quite well from those Olympics, though I don't remember anything else from them. He was quite endearing – and he actually must have been a pretty good skier to have done a 90-metre jump without killing himself, though of course he wasn't as good as those who had trained from childhood. I simply don't know how it's possible to achieve jumps from such a height and survive…

Brilliant film as far as I'm concerned.

[–] DangerManTX 8 years ago

'Why aren't you being critical of the guy who came 54th...'

Duh because that guy was a complete loser, and wasn't worthy of a movie being made about him. And neither is the guy who came 55th...

[–] ambrosia-apples 8 years ago

I've stood at the top of those jumps at Calgary, and it's a nightmare. Can't imagine anyone actually going down those on skis. 

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"Do you feel fortuitous? Well, do you? Hooligan?"

[–] louiseculmer 8 years ago

he ws not a god awful jumper. that he finished at all is pretty impressive. and he qualified by the standards that were in place then. and he did set a British jumping record.

[–] DangerManTX 8 years ago

His jumping record was in a sport which Britain does not compete in, so doesn't actually count.

[–] DangerManTX 8 years ago

He was a total embarassment, and a complete chancer.

[–] Doc80 8 years ago

And what have you done in your life that anyone besides you cares about? He may have been an embarrassment but at least he was there. It's like calling that baseball, football, basketball or hockey player who only played in one pro game a loser. Yeah, maybe they weren't the greatest but they were good enough to get to that level, even for a little bit, that's a lot more than 99.99% of the world can claim.

[–] louiseculmer 8 years ago

very true. That he managed to do those jumps at all is impressive.

[–] Canuck21 7 years ago

He was an embarrassment that got to go participate at the Olympics. I wish I had the guts to embarrass myself like he had. I never made a big fool of myself and I never went anywhere either.

[–] Kyumonryu 7 years ago

so you watch the whole movie and still fail to understand the message of it?

Damn thats stupid.

...but they hung him anyway.
Hanged, Ami. Your father was not a tapestry.