SAM Wood of York rubbed his eyes in disbelief when he saw Eddie The Eagle at Leicester University's skiing club. Sam, the 22-year-old third-year university student at Leicester, where he is studying business management and computer science, was manning the climbing club stall and yes, it really was Britain's heroic Olympic ski-jumping flop Eddie who was joining the skiing club.

Eddie, the 36-year-old birdman from Cheltenham, now a mature fresher student at Leicester, will forever be remembered for his abysmal performance at the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988. He was the man who gave failure a good name when he became a world-wide celebrity for his skill-less ski jumping.

Last year, when he was in York as a guest speaker at a sporting dinner, he revealed his ambition to compete in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, if... he could raise £50,000 a year in sponsorship until lift-off in the USA.

Seems like that plan has fallen through the ice. So what is Eddie studying at uni?

You guessed it. He wants to be a legal eagle, he's reading law.

I rest my skis, your worship.