"It took me a while to realise that I must fight for everything." An exclusive with Jan O Jorgensen

Saturday, 15 August 2009 07:01

If what doesn't break a man will make him stronger, than that was surely the case for Denmark's badminton heir apparent - Jan O Jorgensen - who has been steathily scaling the badminton summit and fighting the odds and roadblocks he has met in his young but promising career thus far.

By Serla Rusli and Jan Lin, Badzine Correspondents. Photos: badmintonphoto (archives)

Denmark's hidden gem was unearthed at the on-going 2009 World Badminton Championship, following the Dane's spectacular battles defeating seeded players Park Sung Hwan and Boonsak Ponsana in the rounds before going down in two sets of 21-19 against Olympic Champion Taufik Hidayat in the quarter-finals.

It has been exactly a decade since the Danish badminton's current crowning sucess, Peter Gade, made his mark in the Asian-dominated badminton circuit when he won the All-England title in 1999. Since then, there has been no real challenge from Europe in pooping the Asian men's singles' party besides Gade.

With retirement on the cards for the 32-year-old Gade, and just before the sport loses its European appeal, Jan's emergence as a menacing threat to the Asian big names is a timely one. Badzine brings you a 3-part series introducing the charismatic and good-humoured Danish and European successor to you. Enjoy!

Love at first sight (like how Danish fairytales would be)

Jan was made for the sport or born into it at least. Falling in love with badminton when he was just four years old, thanks to the influence of his parents and sister, Jan started out what was to be a promising career in his hometown Aalborg under the guidance of former Danish national coach Kenneth Larsen.

It soon became apparent that this young Dane was a true gem waiting to be polished.

Progressing way ahead of his peers, Jan made a pivotal moved to Aarhus when he was eighteen as he could no longer find sparring partners who were on par with him in Aalborg. His talent was quickly spotted in Aarhus and he was recruited into the Danish national team a year later and moved to Copenhagen.

As a junior, Jan was a familiar figure in the European junior circuit, taking the helm just before he turned 21 with wins in the regional championships and several lower-ranked Danish tournaments. Interestingly, Jan has never played in the World Junior Championships, he had jumped the gun to enter the national team.

“When you start winning competitions in Denmark, and becoming the first in Europe, you definitely think that you can be something in the sport," Jan shared. "This is why I have decided that I want to have badminton as my career despite the comparatively lacklustre enthusiasm over the game in Europe.”

The early days: Hitting rock bottom

Today, Jan trains alongside the top players in the country including former world number 1 Peter Gade, who has been someone Jan looks up to. Despite being touted as the future Danish star and already making his mark after just a few years training in the national team, Jan has had a trying journey to the mountain peak.

“Having Peter around in the team is definitely great," remarked Jan on his current training partners. "He shares a lot with us about his experiences and everyone just listens to him whenever he speaks. He was also the one who helped me with my match against Chen Jin in Singapore (in June 2009).”

“Kenneth is great as a coach," says Jan of the current national coach, Kenneth Jonassen, who has left a legacy in his own right. "He knows how everything works and he knows a lot of players. He gives a lot of great advice and he understands us because he has been in the same situation previously. That is the best thing – he knows everything about the game.”

Yet, unbeknownst to many, training with and under the best talents in the country proved to be a double-edged sword experience for him during his first days in the national squad.

Jan said, “At that time, I thought that since I’m training with the best then I must have become a much better player. I assumed that the results would take care of themselves.”

But Jan could only painfully watch his world ranking plummeted, as he repeatedly failed to progress pass the first round in all the European tournaments and was even losing to players whom he had beaten previously before entering the national squad.

“It was a really tough time for me," Jan revealed earnestly, "and I had to go through mental coaching to change my mindset and be more positive.”

Jan's remedy to the 'mental malady' he was facing proved to be effective as he clinched his first medal in one of the European tournaments shortly after receiving mental coaching.

"Jan is just so strong mentally now," said Kenneth Jonassen, who has often spoken very highly of his protégé's mental toughness. "It complements how he is physically so, so strong."

“It took me a while to realise that I must fight for everything," Jan reflected on the main lesson learnt during his rock bottom experience, "and it really takes hard work to progress to the top. After that point, everything started to work out again and I have become more positive ever since.”

Watch out for Part 2 where Jan O Jorgensen shares about the rocky road he had to take to get to the Worlds.

Related Story:
“I am really looking forward to beating my first ever Chinese.” An exclusive with Jan O Jorgensen (Part 2)

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