The Olympic badminton champion in Rio de Janeiro, three times world champion and five times in Europe, Caroline Marin, analyzes for THE OBJECTIVE his last years marked by the calvary of injuries. He now looks only to the future, with the Paris Olympics as a big goal.
QUESTION.- How is Carolina Marin?
ANSWER.- I’m good. With good feelings and wanting to compete again.
Q.- Now you can be seen smiling, but during this last year, how many times have you cried?
R.- I don’t think I’m more or less than anyone else in my situation. The moment of suffering the injury was difficult, because of what it meant and the moment in which it happened. But I accept what comes to me well and I had the support of my entire team and my family to help me.
Q.-When did you realize that you couldn’t continue?
R.- At the time of injury. She knew what had happened because she had already experienced it with the other knee.
Q.-Also, the injury came after the pandemic, from having to prepare as best you could.
R.- It is true that it is difficult, but you have to continue. There are people who have suffered worse situations than me and also get ahead.
P.-What hurt you more, losing the Games or not being able to be at home, in Huelva, and in your World Cup?
R.- I would say the Olympics. Because they are every four years and in this case five, because we had it in our heads since the injury to the other knee, the sensations during the year were very good… But of course I was very sad not to be able to compete in the Huelva World Cup, because I don’t think any athlete has been able to play a competition like this in their city in a pavilion with their name on it.
“The worst was waiting until the operation. We had to wait a few days
Caroline Marin
Q.- It is the unknown side of sport, injuries…
R.- More than unknown, I would say that it is the most complicated side. Because we athletes are to compete and win, and injuries make us stop, which is the worst thing we have.
Q.- This last time, rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament and the two menisci… what has been the worst moment of the recovery?
R.-The wait until the operation. On the first occasion it was immediate, but in this case we had to wait a few days and that was the worst of all.
Q.- Are you afraid of relapse?
R.- No, my knees are fine. Badminton is a very damaging sport due to the impact suffered by the joints, but we accept it.
Q.- Who has been the person who has accompanied you the most in all this time?
R.- My team and my family, without a doubt. There are several people, but I couldn’t leave anyone out because they haven’t left my side.
Q.- How many times have you thought about throwing in the towel?
R.- Really, none.
Q.- Have you had to go to a psychologist or have you received any kind of help?
R.- I have been working with different psychologists since I was a teenager. He now with María Martínez. It seems fundamental to me and I think it has helped me manage things.
«Surely we are going to find a new Carolina»
Caroline Marin
Q.- Which Carolina Marín are we going to find now?
R.- Well, a new one, surely. One good thing that injuries have had is that they have allowed us to train and prepare things that during the maelstrom of the competition we cannot even consider why we should focus on other aspects.
Q.- What have you learned in all these months?
R.- Above all, to try to enjoy what I am doing at all times. I have had more time to enjoy my family, my friends, more free time… And at the same time that has meant that when I trained I had better feelings. It is something for which I am grateful to my team, and above all to Fernando Rivas, my coach, who in the end has seen fit to manage this stage in this way.
Q.- People always comment on your screams on the track… is it a way to expel the adrenaline?
R.- It is something that is part of me and I suppose it means many things. At the time we did it conscientiously so that it could affect the rival, but it is still a natural reaction of liberation, joy, tension…
Q.- What goals do you set for yourself in the short term?
R.- The goal is to be back at the European Championships in Madrid. I want it to be in that competition because my initial idea was for it to be at the Spain Masters in Huelva, but it was suspended and I wouldn’t have been able to play it either because of the deadlines, but I’m excited to be able to return to Spain.
«I always compete with a pendant that they gave me»
Caroline Marin
Q.- Will you make it to the 2024 Paris Olympics?
R.- That is the goal, of course. And the good thing is that there are only 2 years left.
Q.- Tell me a very personal hobby.
R.- Manias as such I do not have. I always compete with a pendant that my parents gave me, but it is more of an amulet.
Q.- Something that you always carry with you when you compete…
R.- That pendant.
Q.- Where does your passion for badminton come from?
R.- When I was a child and I accompanied a friend to train. She was already signed up and I tried it and she loved it.
Q.-A reference that you admire.
R.- On a sporting level, without a doubt, I prefer Rafa Nadal.
Q.- How do you feel when you see that many children want to play badminton because they want to be like Carolina?
R.- I think it is worth as much as a medal, because it is the consequence of what I have achieved. I know that my sport was practically unknown in Spain and now there are people who play it and follow it because they have seen me play it. It is a difficult feeling to explain.
“Women are treated better than they treated us before”
Caroline Marin
Q.- You are part of an incredible generation of female athletes: Badosa, Muguruza, Mireia Belmonte…
R.- It’s just that it’s normal for us to have successes for women as we do in men’s sports. Now we also have more visibility than athletes had 10 years ago and that helps girls want to achieve what we have achieved.
Q.- Do you consider that women are well treated in sports?
R.- I would say that they treat us better than they treated us before. But many things have to be changed in society so that this later reaches each area.
Q.- What is your opinion of what is happening in Ukraine?
R.- I find it unfortunate. I don’t think I’m anyone to give an important opinion on this either because I’m just an athlete, but obviously I don’t agree that conflicts between countries are resolved with violence.
Q.- Now that you are coming back, does Carolina’s career have an expiration date?
R.- Like all things, of course. But if you ask me for a specific date, I can’t tell you the answer because I don’t know it.
P.- What is the worst side of sport that people don’t know about?
R.- Injuries, as I mentioned before. That’s why I also wanted to make my documentary at a time like the first injury: to bring people closer to something that normally isn’t shown.
