In the seventies there was no national team in Denmark. Instead people from Ballerup and the related clubs, e.g. Sønderborg Chung Un, competed around Europe with a club team. In 1976 the team went to a tournament in Haag, Holland. When they arrived in Hamburg to stay overnight a poster from the tournament surprised them: “European Championship for Teams”. They thought that they were on the way to a small tournament. However, it did not scare them off and the team got 4th place. |
In 1977 the Danish Taekwondo Federation informed the clubs that the federation did not have money to send fighters to the world championship in Chicago. Therefore the clubs were free to go if they could raise money for the trip. Ballerup used the opportunity and sent 4 fighters to Chicago: Bo Detlefsen, John Pedersen, Dang Dinh Ky Tu and Dang Dinh Ky Thuy. All of them lost their first fight. However, Thuy’s opponent won the tournament and therefore Thuy got another chance. In the end he lost the fight for the bronze medal and got a 4th place. |
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Fighting Team |
In 1980 when the Danish Taekwondo was re-united into one federation the Danish National Team (kireugi) was established. In the period until 1985 Ballerup had 9 members on the team: John Pedersen, Bo Detlefsen, Jimmy Stålkjær, Laust Palle, Laila Jensen, John Villy Scheerer, Flemming Kristensen, Lars Einar Hansen and Jimmy Nakel. |
Most of them were on the team throughout the whole period. However, from time to time people were dismissed from the team depending on tournament results – and the mood of the national coach. It was a curious system without continuity. For instance, John P., Bo and John S. were dismissed from the team that was selected for the world championship in 1983 because they raised objections to some of the other selections. Afterwards they were selected onto the national team again. |
The best result for Ballerup in those years was in 1980 when Laila Jensen won the European Championship. Please see the club profile for further results. |
After some years without national team members from Ballerup being selected onto the national team, it happened again around 1990. This time it was Lennart Mortensen, Martin Nicolic and Tina Howard. |
After a decade without any members on the national fighting team Allan B. Pedersen was selected onto the team in 2002. It was after a great performance at the national championship where he was honoured as the best male fighter even though he “only” came second. Allan was also onthe national team in 1991-94 when he trained in Gladsaxe. |
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Poomse Team |
In 1994 the first National Championship in poomse took place. At that tournament the Danish National Technical Team was established as a second national team. The selection for the team was based on the tournament results. Randi West Hansen from Ballerup came second in her group at the tournament and was selected onto the team. |
The following years the technical tournaments became more popular and Ballerup became more focused on the technical disciplines. The technical level in Ballerup had always been very high because of Shin Boo Young. However, the level was increased even more in the 1994-95 when Ballerup hired Dang Dinh Ky Tu, coach for the National Technical Team (who trained in Ballerup from 1975-1978), as guest instructor. |
In 1996 Claus D. Thomsen and Peter H. Kristensen were also selected onto the team. The following years Ballerup became one of the leading clubs in Denmark within the technical disciplines – just like Ballerup was within kireugi until the mid-eighties. |
In April 2001 the number of national team members was increased when Trine B. Jørgensen changed club from Tåstrup to Ballerup. In October that year all 4 students participated in the European Championship in Germany. Claus and Peter became European Champions while Randi and Trine won silver and bronze. Besides the medals the Danish Team received a prize of honour from the German interior minister because of their spirit in good sportsmanship. The prize of honour was established because of the terror attacks on USA on September 9th a few weeks before the European Championship. |
Later, Randi, Claus and Peter were selected amongst 6 people who were going to Korea in the summer of 2002. They were to compete at the “Korean Open” (4th International Muyae Taekwondo Championship). The purpose was to show the Danish flag and observe the Korean tendency within the technical tournaments in order to prepare Denmark for the first World Technical Championship some time in the future. The Danish Team had no expectations in winning the Korean Open because they did not know the conditions of technical tournaments in Korea. However, the Danish Team won almost everything at the Korean Open. Each of the team members returned to Denmark with 3-5 gold medals. The Danish Team became so popular that the organizers asked the Danes to perform a show at the closing ceremony. |
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Demonstration Team |
Besides the two national teams, the Danish Taekwondo Federation re-established the national demonstration team before the federation’s 25th anniversary in February 2000. Randi West Hansen, Claus D. Thomsen and Peter H. Kristensen were selected from Ballerup. Later Trine B. Jørgensen was selected onto the demonstration team as well. Finally, in 2002 Ali Ijaz was selected as the fifth team member from Ballerup. |
