Morten Frost or Morten Frost Hansen (born 4 April 1958) is a former
badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...
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. 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
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...
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
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...
and
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
. Frost also worked as a commentator on the
BBC's TV coverage of the badminton tournament at the
2014 Commonwealth Games
The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...
in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...
.
In 2015 Frost accepted a contract to be technical director of the
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...
n national team until the end of 2020. 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. In September 2017, Frost resigned from his position in Malaysia, citing personal reasons.
In February 2019, Frost signed a one-year contract to coach
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
's junior players at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy.
Achievements
World Championships
''Men's singles''
World Cup
''Men's singles''
''Men's doubles''
World Games
''Men's singles''
European Championships
''Men's singles''
International tournaments finals
Singles
=Wins
=
Men's doubles
=Wins
=
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''
''Men's doubles''
National championships finals
Singles
=Wins
=
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
;General
En eftermiddag med Morten Frost
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frost, Morten
1958 births
Living people
Danish male badminton players
Badminton coaches
World Games medalists in badminton
World Games silver medalists
Competitors at the 1981 World Games
People from Odsherred Municipality
Sportspeople from Region Zealand