Morten Frost

Morten Frost or Morten Frost Hansen (born 4 April 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.

Morten Frost
Personal information
Nickname(s)	Mr Badminton
Birth name	Morten Frost Hansen
Country	Denmark
Born	(1958-04-04) 4 April 1958 (age 64) Nykøbing Sjælland, Odsherred, Denmark.^[1]
Handedness	Right
Men's singles
Highest ranking	1
Medal record Men's badminton Representing  Denmark World Championships 1985 Calgary Men's singles 1987 Beijing Men's singles World Games 1981 Santa Clara Men's singles World Cup 1985 Jakarta Men's singles 1986 Jakarta Men's singles 1983 Kuala Lumpur Men's doubles Sudirman Cup 1989 Jakarta Mixed team Thomas Cup 1979 Jakarta Men's team 1990 Tokyo Men's team European Championships 1984 Preston Men's singles 1986 Uppsala Men's singles 1980 Groningen Men's singles 1984 Preston Men's doubles 1988 Kristiansand Men's singles European Mixed Team Championships 1980 Groningen Mixed team 1986 Uppsala Mixed team 1988 Kristiansand Mixed team 1984 Preston Mixed team European Junior Championships 1975 Copenhagen Mixed team 1975 Copenhagen Boys' singles

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. 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.

Morten Frost was inducted into the BWF Badminton Hall of Fame in 1998.

Coaching career

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.^[2] Frost also worked as a commentator on the BBC's TV coverage of the badminton tournament at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.^[3]

In 2015 Frost accepted a contract to be technical director of the Malaysian national team until the end of 2020.^[4] Early 2017, Frost had a fallout with Malaysian former world number 1 player Lee Chong Wei regarding what Lee said was an unfair treatment towards him after his injury.^[5] In September 2017, Frost resigned from his position in Malaysia, citing personal reasons.^[6]

In February 2019, Frost signed a one-year contract to coach India's junior players at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy.^[7]

Achievements

World Championships

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1985	Olympic Saddledome, Calgary, Canada	Han Jian	18–14, 10–15, 8–15	Silver
1987	Capital Indoor Stadium, Beijing, China	Yang Yang	2–15, 15–13, 12–15	Silver

World Cup

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1985	Senayan Sports Complex, Jakarta, Indonesia	Icuk Sugiarto	11–15, 15–8, 4–15	Silver
1986	Senayan Sports Complex, Jakarta, Indonesia	Icuk Sugiarto	15–5, 6–15, 11–15	Silver

Men's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1983	Stadium Negara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Jens Peter Nierhoff	Christian Hadinata   Bobby Ertanto	11–15, 15–4, 13–15	Bronze

World Games

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1981	San Jose Civic Auditorium, California, United States	Chen Changjie	15–9, 7–15, 12–15	Silver

European Championships

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1980	Groningen, Netherlands	Flemming Delfs	4–15, 15–1, 14–17	Silver
1984	Preston Guild Hall, Preston, England	Jens Peter Nierhoff	15–8, 15–2	Gold
1986	Uppsala, Sweden	Ib Frederiksen	15–8, 15–2	Gold
1988	Kristiansand, Norway	Darren Hall	15–8, 12–15, 9–15	Silver

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	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	Nordic Championships
1985	Welsh International
1986	Belgian International
1987	Belgian International
1989	Nordic Championships
1990	Finnish International

Men's doubles

Wins

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

IBF World Grand Prix (32 titles, 12 runners-up)

The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) from 1983 to 2006.

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
1983	Swedish Open	Misbun Sidek	15–9, 10–15, 13–15	Runner-up
1983	All England Open	Luan Jin	2–15, 15–12, 4–15	Runner-up
1983	Scandinavian Open	Prakash Padukone	18–17, 15–2	Winner
1983	World Grand Prix Finals	Luan Jin	2–15, 6–15	Runner-up
1984	Chinese Taipei Open	Hastomo Arbi	15–11, 15–7	Winner
1984	Japan Open	Liem Swie King	15–1, 18–15	Winner
1984	Scottish Open	Kevin Jolly	15–11, 15–2	Winner
1984	Denmark Open	Jens Peter Nierhoff	15–1, 15–2	Winner
1984	All England Open	Liem Swie King	9–15, 15–10, 15–10	Winner
1984	Malaysia Open	Icuk Sugiarto	9–15, 4–15	Runner-up
1984	Scandinavian Open	Han Jian	15–10, 15–9	Winner
1984	World Grand Prix Finals	Liem Swie King	15–5, 15–4	Winner
1985	Hong Kong Open	Yang Yang	10–15, 11–15	Runner-up
1985	Denmark Open	Sung Han-kuk	15–4, 15–5	Winner
1985	All England Open	Zhao Jianhua	15–6, 10–15, 15–18	Runner-up
1985	English Masters	Steve Baddeley	15–12, 11–15, 15–11	Winner
1985	Malaysia Masters	Misbun Sidek	15–4, 15–7	Winner
1985	Scandinavian Open	Lius Pongoh	15–5, 15–8	Winner
1986	German Open	Michael Kjeldsen	15–4, 15–3	Winner
1986	Scandinavian Open	Torben Carlsen	15–5, 15–5	Winner
1986	All England Open	Misbun Sidek	15–2, 15–8	Winner
1986	Denmark Open	Michael Kjeldsen	15–9, 15–10	Winner
1986	English Masters	Sze Yu	15–8, 15–5	Winner
1986	World Grand Prix Finals	Yang Yang	13–18, 8–15	Runner-up
1987	Poona Open	Jens Peter Nierhoff	15–11, 15–11	Winner
1987	All England Open	Icuk Sugiarto	15–10, 15–0	Winner
1987	English Masters	Steve Baddeley	18–13, 15–18, 15–12	Winner
1988	Poona Open	Ib Frederiksen	15–10, 15–9	Winner
1988	German Open	Xiong Guobao	15–4, 15–6	Winner
1988	All England Open	Ib Frederiksen	15–8, 7–15, 10–15	Runner-up
1988	French Open	Icuk Sugiarto	10–15, 15–6, 2–15	Runner-up
1988	English Masters	Ardy Wiranata	15–8, 15–8	Winner
1988	Scottish Open	Nick Yates	15–7, 15–5	Winner
1989	Chinese Taipei Open	Eddy Kurniawan	15–12, 15–3	Winner
1989	Swedish Open	Allan Budi Kusuma	15–4, 15–4	Winner
1989	All England Open	Yang Yang	6–15, 7–15	Runner-up
1989	German Open	Steve Baddeley	15–6, 15–4	Winner
1989	Denmark Open	Zhao Jianhua	15–12, 15–13	Winner
1989	Scottish Open	Jens Peter Nierhoff	15–2, 15–5	Winner
1990	Finnish Open	Hermawan Susanto	15–13, 4–15, 15–9	Winner
1990	Japan Open	Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen	15–9, 15–4	Winner
1990	Denmark Open	Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen	15–4, 10–15, 15–17	Runner-up

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1984	Scottish Open	Jesper Helledie	Nigel Tier   Duncan Bridge	15–11, 15–11	Winner
1984	Denmark Open	Jens Peter Nierhoff	Li Yongbo   Tian Bingyi	7–15, 2–15	Runner-up

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." - Tom John on Morten Frost

References

Cited

1. . Smash - Badminton site. Archived from the original on April 28, 2002. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
2. "Danish legend Frost to coach South Africa". Shuttler. 2001-03-30.
3. "Tune in to the Beeb for badminton at Glasgow 2014". Badminton Scotland. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
4. . The Malaysian Insider. 27 February 2015. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016.
5. "World No 1 Lee Chong Wei threatens to quit Badminton Association of Malaysia". TODAYonline. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
6. "Frost maintains that 'personal reasons' were why he quit". New Straits Times. September 19, 2017.
7. Nahir, Akhil (11 February 2019). "Badminton Legend Morten Frost to Coach India's Junior Players". News18. Retrieved 16 July 2019.

General

Further reading

• "The making of Morten Frost (Anecdotes about Frost)". BadmintonMania.

External links

• at the Wayback Machine (archived 1 July 2017)
• Morten Frost Hansen at BWF.tournamentsoftware.com  
• Morten Frost Hansen at BWFbadminton.com  
• Morten Frost Hansen at the World Games