Kjell Johansson (table tennis player)

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Kjell Johansson 1966

Kjell Johansson (born October 5, 1946 in Eskilstuna ; † October 24, 2011 in Eksjö ) was a Swedish table tennis player and was one of the best table tennis players in the world in the 1960s and 1970s.

Career

Kjell Johansson was European champion in men's singles in 1964 in Malmö and in 1966 in London and later three times world champion in men's doubles ( 1967 in Stockholm and 1969 in Munich with Hans Alsér / 1973 in Sarajevo with Stellan Bengtsson ). He won the European Championship six times with the Swedish team. Six times he was Swedish champion in men's singles. Between 1961 and 1977 he played 240 times for the Swedish national team. In 1965 he was honored with the Svenska Dagbladet gold medal. After the 1977 World Cup, Johansson ended his career.

Like many table tennis players, Kjell was also known for his fairness: At the table tennis world championship in 1967 (individual competition) in Stockholm he was behind the Russian player Stanislaw Gomoskow in the decisive set 19:20. In the rally that followed, the referee overlooked the Russian's edge ball, but the Swede gave up the point and lost the game. Johansson was later awarded the Unicef ​​Fair Play Award for his honesty.

His extremely hard, uncompromising forehand shot was also jokingly called "Thors Hammer" ("Thors Hammare"), he is considered the first uncompromisingly offensive table tennis player in Europe. Unfortunately, he did not succeed in changing his game system (safe block play, "shot", stunning coordination) to the topspin that was emerging at the end of the 1960s . This and other deficits (e.g. in the service game) were probably the reasons why he never could win an individual world championship.

Together with his brother Christer Johansson , he played in the Swedish team at the 1967 World Cup.

successes

Results from the ITTF database

Association event year place country singles Double Mixed team
SWE  European Championship  1976  Prague  TCH   Quarter finals  gold    2
SWE  European Championship  1974  Novi Sad  YUG   Semifinals  silver    1
SWE  European Championship  1972  Rotterdam  NED   last 16  silver    1
SWE  European Championship  1970  Moscow  URS   Semifinals  silver    1
SWE  European Championship  1968  Lyon  FRA   Semifinals  silver    1
SWE  European Championship  1966  London  CLOSELY   gold  gold    1
SWE  European Championship  1964  Malmo  SWE   gold  silver    1
SWE  European Youth Championship (Juniors)  1963  Duisburg  FRG   Semifinals  gold     
SWE  EURO TOP12  1977  Sarajevo  YUG   Scratched       
SWE  EURO TOP12  1976  Lübeck  FRG   silver      
SWE  EURO TOP12  1975  Vienna  AUT   gold      
SWE  EURO TOP12  1974  Trollhatten  SWE   Scratched       
SWE  EURO TOP12  1973  Boeblingen  FRG   4th       
SWE  EURO TOP12  1972  Zagreb  YUG   Scratched       
SWE  EURO TOP12  1971  Zadar  YUG   6th       
SWE  Nordic championships  1969  Solvesborg  SWE   gold  gold  silver  1
SWE  Nordic championships  1965  Nyborg  THE   gold  gold  silver  1
SWE  Nordic championships  1963  Skara  SWE   gold  gold  gold  1
SWE  Nordic championships  1961  Mountains  NOR   Semifinals      1
SWE  World Championship  1977  Birmingham  CLOSELY   last 16  Semifinals  no participants  3
SWE  World Championship  1975  Calcutta  IND   Quarter finals  last 16  no participants  3
SWE  World Championship  1973  Sarajevo  YUG   silver  gold  no participants  1
SWE  World Championship  1971  Nagoya  JPN   last 128  last 32  no participants  4th 
SWE  World Championship  1969  Munich  FRG   last 64  gold  no participants  5 
SWE  World Championship  1967  Stockholm  SWE   last 64  gold  last 64  3
SWE  World Championship  1965  Ljubljana  YUG   Scratched  Scratched  no participants  6th 
SWE  World Championship  1963  Prague  TCH   last 64  last 64  last 32  3

philately

On April 11, 1967, the Swedish Post issued two postage stamps showing Kjell Johannsson ( Michel catalog no. 578-579).

swell

  • Olaf Brockmann: The DTS conversation with Kjell Johansson - You just have to be able to torment yourself ... , DTS magazine , 1977/10 edition Süd-West, p. 12

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ”Hammaren” död, article from October 24, 2011 (Swedish) (accessed September 20, 2012)
  2. ↑ Austrian table tennis shop 1966/01
  3. ^ "Sweden mourns Johansson" in spiegel.de
  4. ↑ "How do you become number 1 in table tennis?" (Meyer & Meyer Sport, 1995, ISBN 978-3891241585 )
  5. ↑ Kjell Johansson (table tennis player) Results from the ITTF database on ittf.com (accessed on September 9, 2011)
personal data
SURNAME Johansson, Kjell
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish table tennis player
DATE OF BIRTH October 5, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Eskilstuna
DATE OF DEATH October 24, 2011
Place of death Eksjö