Under Pressure
Peter is well known for his actions while responding to pressure. He claims that he does not play to win, he says that Bushido dictates that "walking the path is enough", the fact that he was playing badminton humbled him. Various examples of Bushido in work included when Peter, just entering the Danish National Camp, was playing in the Danish National Championships had to face the fourth seeded Peter Janum in the quarters, who was heavily favored to win the tournament. But the resilient Peter Rasmussen came out and beat Janum 15-1, 15-2 in less than 25 minutes.
At the European Championships in 2002, Peter had to face country-man Anders Boesen, this was after a four-year lay-off period for Peter who was recovering from foot injury. Boesen ranked 5th in the World at the time, was leading Rasmussen 5-1 in the final set but Rasmssusen seemed to have ignored the pressure completely and came back to win 7-5 and a ticket to face another country-man, Kenneth Johnasson, Rasmussen was outclassed in the first set losing 7-0 to the World #2 ranked player. But with a level of focus rarely seen in sports, Rasmussen fought back to take the match in a grueling 5 sets.
Peter's most impressive match was probably at the Thomas Cup Finals where Denmark was facing Indonesia for a ticket to play China in the finals. Denmark took the first two Men's Doubles matches, but Peter Gade crumpled under the pressure of Indo first singles player Sony Dwi Kuncoro. Kenneth Johnassen followed suit by losing to future Olympic Gold and World Champion Taufik Hidayat. So the spotlight was again on Peter Rasmussen to step up, and step up he did. He beat the youngster from Indonesia, Simon Santoso in front of 12,000 screaming Indonesian fans in straight sets, 15-3, 15-12.
Read more about this topic: Peter Rasmussen (badminton)
Famous quotes containing the word pressure:
“He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden.”
—Plato (c. 427–347 B.C.)
“Adolescence is when girls experience social pressure to put aside their authentic selves and to display only a small portion of their gifts.”
—Mary Pipher (20th century)