Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards, British Olympic ski-lumper and TV personality, was the speaker at the recent City of Newport Business Club event held at the Celtic Manor.

Those attending the event were treated to an inspiring and challenging presentation from one of Britain’s best loved sportsmen.

Eddie explained how he discovered his love for ski-ing on a school ski trip in his early teens and from these humble beginnings started his journey to become a champion skier.

From that point, Gloucester Ski Centre became his second home and he would spend every spare hour on the slopes perfecting his ski-ing technique.

His hard work paid off and he later became part of the GB Alpine ski team and by swapping from Alpine ski-ing to ski-jumping he secured his place in the 1988 Olympic squad. The rest is history.

But what many people don’t realise is just how incredible and difficult Eddie’s journey really was.

He explained how most ski jumpers start jumping as young children, yet his first jump when he was in his twenties.

He had no sponsor, so while he was training, he relied on charity and goodwill to provide him with his equipment, which was old and well past its best.

He slept in a Scout hut, a mental hospital (and even in his car), and his finances were sometimes so dire that he was forced to rummage through bins for food. He had no coach and relied on tips he picked up from the coaches of other teams and the staff working at the Alpine ski centre. Yet he persevered through it all to achieve his goal of taking part in the Olympics.

Eddie also spoke about the Hollywood film about his life released this year and encouraged everyone to go and see it.

He’s seen it eight times, although made it clear that this was because he had been to eight premieres for the film, not because he spends his time watching re-runs of it at home.

Eddie encouraged all those present to go for their dreams as he was living proof that dreams can come true.

Chairman, Dan Goulding said: "When you realise the hard work, dedication and sacrifice Eddie put in to reaching the Winter Olympics in 1988, you can’t help but be inspired by what he achieved. It goes to show that each of us has the potential to do great things, although personally, ski-jumping is definitely not on my list!”

The next City of Newport Business Club event will be on Thursday, February 16, 2017.

For further details visit City of Newport Business Club website, www.newportbusinessclub.co.uk.