Madrid, March 9 (EFE).- The French badminton federation (FFBaD) announced this Wednesday the signing of Fernando Rivas, coach of Carolina Marín, as senior manager, with whom he will continue working.
Rivas, 44, will continue directing Carolina Marín in Madrid, Olympic champion in Rio 2016, three times world champion (2014, 2015 and 2018) and five times in Europe (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2021), “and will travel to France every two weeks to work in the badminton division of the French National Sports Institute (INSEP),” reported the FFBaD.
In a press conference together with the president of the Federation, Yohan Penel, the technical director, Jerome Careil, and the new director of performance, Thierry Soler, Fernando Rivas indicated that France is “a power at the junior level” and the challenge is ” develop that level” to “achieve good results in the future in any competition”.
“It’s logical when you’ve already qualified for all the Olympic editions,” he said about the presence of French badminton in all the Games since he entered the program in Barcelona’92.
One man, one woman and one mixed doubles pair qualified for Tokyo 2020, none of whom made it past the initial group stage.
France has never entered the Olympic medal table for this sport, which has historically only been accessed by 12 countries, with China as the clear dominator with 20 titles won out of 39 disputed.
Rivas, whose contract with the FFBaD is part-time and will expire after the 2024 Paris Games, indicated that he will also work with his sights set on Los Angeles 2028.
“I need to know the players well and what they are capable of doing, direct the physical and mental preparation. Carolina Marín adapted to my method, in this case we will have to adapt to what we have,” he said. “I will do a lot of work from home, everything is already planned, Carolina will not lack training even when I am here.”
The technician stated that what attracts him to the French project is the desire to see if a methodology that has already given him good results works “in another structure”.
“And above all, the fact of being able to have a six-year goal, thinking not only of Paris but of Los Angeles, as well as having many professionals, because the (French) national technical management has around 25 people who are going to work on a common project,” he said.
“It was a very motivating offer at a time of need for change after 17 years in the Spanish federation,” he said.
Regarding the possibility of Carolina Marín reappearing on the slopes after her serious injury at the European Championships in Madrid next April, Rivas was not categorical although she did not rule it out at all.
“The idea is that, if she is healthy, she will start competing in April after a stay in the Sierra Nevada CAR, and what better place than Madrid,” he said.
THE FFBaD indicated for its park that “two years from the Olympic and Paralympic Games (in Paris) and three from the world championships in pairs, the FFBaD has decided to support its high-level strategy with an ambitious high-performance approach. It has chosen to work with the new duo formed by Rivas and Thierry Soler to prepare for the great challenges that lie ahead”.
“With an individual approach, in which innovation in a science-based approach is crucial, Fernando Rivas, who graduated from the University of the South of Paris in 2002, is perfectly familiar with French culture. In a direct line with Thierry Soler, the two share the same ambition: to take French badminton to the top, together with the current staff,” added the French federation.
(c) EFE Agency
