Sture Johnsson

Sture Göran Johnsson
Personal information
Country	Sweden
Born	(1945-09-27) 27 September 1945 (age 79) Mölndal, Västra Götaland County, Sweden
Handedness	Right
Career title(s)	European champion (1968, 1970 & 1974)
Medal record Men's badminton Representing  Sweden European Championships 1968 Bochum Men's singles 1970 Port Talbot Men's singles 1974 Vienna Men's singles 1978 Preston Men's singles European Mixed Team Championships 1974 Vienna Mixed team 1978 Preston Mixed team

Sture Johnsson (born 1945) is a retired badminton player from Sweden who won numerous Swedish national and international men's singles titles. His game was characterized by impressive stamina and mobility, and a powerful overhead smash.

Career

Johnsson won men's singles at the first European Badminton Championships in 1968. He eventually won three singles titles at this biennial event (1968, 1970 and 1974^[1]), a total bested only by Peter Gade in the early 2000s. He won the World Invitational Championships in 1971 held in Glasgow and reached the semifinals of men's singles at the All-England Championships on four occasions and was one of only a very few players to beat Rudy Hartono in tournament play during Hartono's prime (semifinals of 1973 German Open). Johnsson was a member of six consecutive Swedish Thomas Cup teams between 1963 and 1979.

He also competed at the first ever IBF World Championships in Malmö, in 1977, and was defeated in quarterfinals by the eventual champion Flemming Delfs.^[2]

1972 Summer Olympics

Johnsson competed in badminton at the 1972 Summer Olympics, as a demonstration sport competition. In men's singles, he lost in semifinals against Rudy Hartono, 15–2, 15–4. In mixed doubles he played with Eva Twedberg, and they were beaten in the first round by Roland Maywald and Brigitte Steden of West Germany.

Achievements

European Championships

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1968	Bochum, West Germany	Wolfgang Bochow	17–14, 11–15, 15–5	Gold
1970	Port Talbot, Wales	Elo Hansen	15–5, 15–6	Gold
1974	Vienna, Austria	Thomas Kihlström	15–7, 15–8	Gold
1978	Preston, England	Flemming Delfs	14–17, 9–15	Bronze

Other achievements

Rank	Event	Date	Venue
Open Championships
1	Men's singles	1974, 1976	Swedish Open
1	Men's singles	1965, 1968, 1976	Norwegian International
	Mixed doubles	1969
1	Men's singles	1968	French Open
1	Men's singles	1969	Belgian International
1	Men's singles	1972, 1973	U.S. Open
	Mixed doubles	1973
1	Men's singles	1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1977	German Open
1	Men's singles	1969, 1972, 1975	Nordic Championships
National Championships
1	Men's singles	1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1979	Swedish Nationals
	Men's doubles	1970, 1972

References

1. Pat Davis, The Guinness Book of Badminton (Enfield, Middlesex, England: Guinness Superlatives Ltd., 1983) 115.
2. "Badminton's first world championships", World Badminton, July–August 1977, 3.

External links

• Sture Johnsson at Olympedia (archive)