article by Nicola Pucci
Introduced as an Olympic discipline only by the 1992 Barcelona Games, after a purely demonstration tournament was held in Munich in 1972, nevertheless As early as the 1970s, badminton began to celebrate the triumph of some European champions, even though Asians have almost always dominated the major international events.
In the men’s field, Denmark, Sweden and England are the only countries from the Old Continent to appear in the world medal tablewith the Danes Flemming Delfs and Svend Pri climbing onto the two highest steps of the podium in the first edition of the World Championships, the one held in Malmoe in 1977, an exploit later replicated by Peter Rasmussen in Glasgow in 1997 and by Viktor Axelsen, capable of scoring a double gold, curiously always in the Scottish capital, in 2017, and in Tokyo, in 2022, as well as the champion from Odense gave an encore in the Olympic arena, Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024, improving the exploits of his compatriot Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen, gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Denmark therefore leader of badminton in Europe, but the first star capable of shining in the international firmament comes from the Scandinavian country that ranks right up there, Sweden, which still today celebrates Sture Johnsson as its strongest player ever.
Born in Molndal on 27 September 1945, Johnsson started playing badminton at the age of 13in the clubHisingen’s of Gothenburg, in the same period in which he alternates his activity as a footballer in his neighborhood team, theOrnwhich has in its ranks guys such as Eddy Magnusson and Kenneth Nilsson who later became, from “large“, professionals with IFK Goteborg and Orgryte respectively.
Sture finally opts for badminton, and the choice will pay off for him, becoming, like his older brother Kurt, the two best badminton players in Swedenmeeting for ten (!!!) consecutive years in the final of the Swedish Championships, from 1964 to 1973.
Well trained, endowed with uncommon resistance and very skilled in the offensive game, Johnsson, nicknamed the “Swedish bulldozer“, He soon becomes a tough opponent even for Asian players, who often face him in big tournaments and in which Sture particularly shines. For example, when the World Cup had not yet been established, wins the 1971 Badminton World Invitational Championships at the Kelvin Hall of Glasgow, he is a four-time semi-finalist at the All England Championshipswhich is to badminton what Wimbledon is to tennis, also being one of the few players capable of beating the legendary Rudy Hartonothe Indonesian elected among the greatest of all time, defeated by him at the German Open in 1973, won 5 times.
At the end of his career Johnsson will have collected 21 victories in international tournaments, but his greatest successeswaiting for the World Championships and those Olympics in which he participated, demonstratively, in 1972, losing in the semi-final to Hartono himself (15-2, 15-4), he gets them at the European Championshipswho began their adventure in Bochum in 1968.
Sture Johnsson is undoubtedly one of the favorites of the event, and if he has no problems in eliminating the Swiss Jurg Honegger (15-7, 15-1) and the Scot Robert McCoig (15-6, 15-5), in the semi-final he comes out of a marathon match with the Dane Elo Hansen (15-4, 11-15, 15-12), guaranteeing a first final against the home favorite Wolfgang Bochowwho entered the lower part of the scoreboard by eliminating Kurt Johnsson in the quarterfinals, 15-3 in the third set. The challenge with the German is exciting, and if the balance reigns in the first two sets (17-15, 11-15), in the decisive set Sture makes all his physical superiority count and with a clear 15-5 he climbs to the top of Europe. It certainly won’t be the last.
In 1970 Johnsson moved with his brother Kurt and Thomas Kihlstrom to Stockholm, to the club Sparvagen IFwhich guarantees him financial assistance to continue his international activity, and at the European Championships in Port Talbot, Wales, from 17 to 19 April, he once again broke the bank, this time beating Bochow in a tight semi-final (15-3, 14-15, 15-10) and then prevailing, decisively without any less worries, by Elo Hansen in the final (15-5, 15-6).
Absent from the home edition of Karlskrona in 1972, Johnsson returns to compete at the European Championships in Vienna from 18 to 20 April 1974, and confirms himself, if anything were needed, as the strongest badminton player on the continent. As usual, things get done.”serie” starting from the semi-finals, when the Swede has to chase the young Dane Flemming Delfs (4-15, 15-6, 15-8), and then, in the final derby with his compatriot and friend Thomas Kihlstrom, clearly prevail (15-7, 15-8)securing the third European title of his career.
It will also be the last, though adding two bronzes in the team ranking determined by the results of the singles, doubles and mixed doubles events, again in Vienna in 1974 and in Preston in 1978, when in the singles they had to settle for third place, this time defeated in the semi-final by Delfs (14-17 , 9-15). In the meantime, precisely in 1977, the World Cup had its genesis, but Johnsson, in the world championship, had no luck, stopping in the quarterfinals in Glasgow (6-15, 10-15 against Delfs himself) and three years later , in Jakarta, already exiting in the first round, defeated by the Englishman Kevin Jolly (6-15, 7-15).
Oh well, no big deal, in the end no one can take away Sture Johnsson’s election as the first, brightest winner of European badminton.
