When I started competing, I was so broke that I had to tie my helmet with a piece of string. On one jump, the string snapped, and my helmet carried on farther than I did. I may have been the first ski jumper ever beaten by his gear.
There are so many world-class athletes who are great at their sport, but they're so boring. They don't talk, and they can't be interviewed very well.
I won't win a World Cup, and I won't win the Olympics, but I'm sure I can compete with the best, and that's what I want to show.
It's not been a bad life, and I do know that I could never have been a world champion. All I ever wanted to do was be the best I could with what I had, which wasn't very much, really. And that's what I think I did.
I was the best ski jumper in the United Kingdom.
I think because I'm so naturally happy and unaffected and open, people thought I didn't take the jumping seriously. You're up that high, believe me - you take it very seriously.