Morten Frost

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Morten Frost
Personal information
Nickname(s) Mr Badminton
Birth name Morten Frost Hansen
Country  Denmark
Born (1958-04-04) April 4, 1958
Nykøbing Sjælland[1]
Handedness 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.

Badminton career

During his career, Frost won almost every available top level 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 Sweden Bruno Wackfelt
1980 European Championships Denmark Flemming Delfs
1988 European Championships England Darren Hall

International 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 China Luan Jin 11-15 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 Indonesia Liem Swie King 9-15 15-10 15-10
1984 Denmark Open
1984 Japan Open
1984 Scottish Open
1984 Nordic Championships
1984 World Grand Prix Indonesia Liem Swie King 15–5 15–4
1985 Denmark Open
1985 Malaysia Open
1985 Welsh International
1986 All England Open Malaysia Misbun Sidek
1986 Denmark Open
1986 German Open
1986 Belgian International
1987 All England Open Indonesia Icuk Sugiarto 15-10 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 China Luan Jin 2-15 15-13 4-15
1983 World Grand Prix China Luan Jin 2–15 6–15
1985 All England Open China Zhao Jianhua 15-6 10-15 15-18
1986 World Grand Prix China Yang Yang 13–18 8–15
1988 All England Open Denmark Ib Frederiksen 15-8 7-15 10-15
1989 All England Open China Yang Yang 8-15 9-15
1990 Denmark Open Denmark Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen 15–4 10–15 14–17

Doubles

Wins
Date Tournament Event Partner Opponents in final Score
1977 USSR International MD Denmark Steen Skovgaard
1980 Norwegian International MD Denmark Steen Fladberg
1981 Norwegian International MD Denmark Steen Fladberg
1982 Norwegian International MD Denmark Steen Fladberg
1983 Scottish Open XD Denmark Nettie Nielsen
1984 Scottish Open MD Denmark Jesper Helledie
1986 Norwegian International MD Denmark Steen Fladberg

National 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
  1. ↑ "Players: Morten-Forst Hansen". Smash - Badminton site. Retrieved 2008-03-18. 
  2. ↑ "The iron mask". BadZine.info. 2007-01-05. 
  3. ↑ "Danish legend Frost to coach South Africa". Shuttler. 2001-03-30. 
General

Further reading

External links

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