- Morten Frost
-
Morten Frost 
Personal information Nickname(s) Mr Badminton Birth name Morten Frost Hansen Born April 4, 1958
Nykøbing Sjælland[1]Country 
DenmarkHandedness Right Men's singles Morten Frost or Morten Frost Hansen, aka "Mr Badminton",[2] (born April 4, 1958) is a former badminton player and later coach, who represented Denmark. As a player, he spent twelve years in the top three of the world rankings.
Contents
Badminton career
During his career, Frost won almost every championship, except the World Badminton Championships where he scored a silver medal twice (1985 and 1987). When he lost his second World Championship in the finals, the headlines rang out "The World's greatest badminton player may never be World Champion." While this may be the enduring footnote to his career, Frost dominated at the much coveted All England Open Badminton Championships (comparable to Wimbledon in tennis). He won that tournament in 1982, 1984, 1986, and 1987. He also was European champion in 1984 and 1986. He won the Nordic championship each year from 1978 through 1984 and again in 1988.
Frost is also distinguished by winning all of the invitational Grand Prix tournaments at least once, including his home country's Denmark Open, of which he was champion 1980-1986 and 1989. Morten Frost represented Denmark on the national team from 1976 to 1991, longer than anyone else.
Noted for his exceptionally smooth and fluid footwork, Frost's playing style was something of a cross between the traditional singles game featuring numerous clears (lobs) and drops, with smashes often reserved for weak returns, and the modern singles game featuring more smashing from the outset of a rally to create openings.
After his playing years were over, he went on to successfully coach the Danish national team. During his tenure as coach, the Danish national squad achieved over 20 major international wins, including an Olympic gold medal in 1996, six gold medals and three silver medals at the European Championships in 1996, the men's singles titles at the 1995 and 1996 All England Championships, and a gold, two silver and four bronze medals at the World Championships in 1995. He later coached the national teams of Malaysia and South Africa.[3]
Morten Frost was inducted into the BWF Hall of Fame in 1998.
Career statistics
Continental tournaments singles finalist
Date Tournament Opponent in final Score 1975 European Junior Championships 
Bruno Wackfelt1980 European Championships Flemming Delfs1988 European Championships 
Darren HallInternational tournaments finals
Singles
Wins
Date Tournament Opponent in final Score 1977 Norwegian International 1977 USSR International 1978 Nordic Championships 1979 Canadian Open 1979 Nordic Championships 1980 Denmark Open 1980 Canadian Open 1980 Nordic Championships 1981 Denmark Open 1981 Nordic Championships 1982 All England Open 
Luan Jin11-15 15-2 15-7 1982 Denmark Open 1982 German Open 1982 Scottish Open 1982 Nordic Championships 1983 Denmark Open 1983 Dutch Open 1983 Scottish Open 1983 Nordic Championships 1984 All England Open 
Liem Swie King9-15 15-10 15-10 1984 Denmark Open 1984 Japan Open 1984 Scottish Open 1984 Nordic Championships 1984 World Grand Prix Liem Swie King15–5 15–4 1985 Denmark Open 1985 Malaysia Open 1985 Welsh International 1986 All England Open 
Misbun Sidek1986 Denmark Open 1986 German Open 1986 Belgian International 1987 All England Open Icuk Sugiarto15-10 15-0 1987 Belgian International 1988 German Open 1988 Scottish Open 1989 Denmark Open 1989 German Open 1989 Scottish Open 1989 Nordic Championships 1989 Swedish Open 1990 Japan Open 1990 Finnish International Runner-ups
Date Tournament Opponent in final Score 1983 All England Open Luan Jin2-15 15-13 4-15 1983 World Grand Prix Luan Jin2–15 6–15 1985 All England Open Zhao Jianhua15-6 10-15 15-18 1986 World Grand Prix Yang Yang13–18 8–15 1988 All England Open Ib Frederiksen15-8 7-15 10-15 1989 All England Open Yang Yang8-15 9-15 1990 Denmark Open Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen15–4 10–15 14–17 Doubles
Wins
Date Tournament Event Partner Opponents in final Score 1977 USSR International MD Steen Skovgaard1980 Norwegian International MD Steen Fladberg1981 Norwegian International MD Steen Fladberg1982 Norwegian International MD Steen Fladberg1983 Scottish Open XD Nettie Nielsen1984 Scottish Open MD Jesper Helledie1986 Norwegian International MD Steen FladbergNational championships finals
Singles
Wins
Year Tournament Opponent in final Score 1978 Danish National Championships 1979 Danish National Championships 1980 Danish National Championships 1982 Danish National Championships 1983 Danish National Championships 1984 Danish National Championships 1987 Danish National Championships 1990 Danish National Championships 1991 Danish National Championships Quotes
- "Jeg hader at tabe mere end de fleste. Jeg har en vilje til at vinde HVER gang!" - Morten Frost
- "I hate to lose more than most. I have the will to win EVERY time!" - Morten Frost (translation of above)
- "He used to give international players in England a 14-0 start. And if they won, the bet was they would take the money. And most of the players would take the bet, but they made very little money. After that they found they couldn't win, so they never took the bet. But that's how you train not to make errors."
References
- Cited
- ^ "Players: Morten-Forst Hansen". Smash - Badminton site. http://members.tripod.com/tangkis/player/denmark/morten.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
- ^ "The iron mask". BadZine.info. 2007-01-05. http://www.badzine.info/content/view/142/3/.
- ^ "Danish legend Frost to coach South Africa". Shuttler. 2001-03-30. http://shuttler.tripod.com/shuttler/news/news005.htm.
- General
Further reading
External links
Categories:- Danish badminton players
- Badminton Hall of Fame inductees
- Living people
- 1958 births
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