Carolina Marín has been one of the international sports figures recognized with one of the awards from the first edition of the Relay X Change, a gala with the aim of honoring the values and example to build a better society through sport. And, in the figure of the Spanish champion, it is difficult to know what has more weight in her sporting career, her record of achievements or her values beyond the podiums.
His triumphs are the history of Spanish sport, but also international, being the only player with three world golds [2014, 2015 y 2018] in the entire history of the competition. More complicated if possible was his success in the only Games in which he arrived fully and did not encounter the wall of injuries, in Rio 2016: it is the only non-Asian female player to win Olympic gold in the nine editions so far in which his sport has been part of the program, in addition to the only one not born on Asian soil who has achieved a medal of any color. In her backpack, you can count up to 16 world tour titles against the best players in the world, highlighting her three victories in the renowned All England.
The number of joys skyrockets if we take a look at the achievements at a continental level, where an incomparable golden era has been cemented. The Spaniard has won all the European championships since 2014, adding seven titles along with the gold medal at the 2023 European Games. And it has a lot of merit, because some of these Europeans coincided with the return of ‘Caro’ after his serious injuries but not even the lack of preparation could stop his triumph.
Given what was seen in the first rounds, it is almost inevitable to think that only the rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament plasty of his right knee He was able to stop his second Olympic gold in the semifinals in Paris. After an immaculate tournament and a match against the Chinese He Bing Jiao that she controlled with an iron fist, the fateful moment arrived with only 11 points left to qualify for the long-awaited final against the world number 1, the Korean An. A rival in the one that had set her preparation and that the Andalusian player herself was convinced of being able to beat after a few hard months of training that will soon be revealed in a Movistar Plus+ documentary.
His victorious path had begun much earlier, in 2009, when At only 13 years old he won his first absolute Spanish championship and only a year later, as a teenager, she left Huelva towards the Blume Residence in the Madrid High Performance Center, having to separate from her family and leaving with her coach Fernando Rivas, who is still today. A sacrifice that gave him results and places him, without a doubt, in the Olympus of Spanish sport among the best in history.
A capacity for improvement never seen before
But if Marín has earned the affection of Spanish society for the glory and good moments he has brought to Spanish sport, he has done so even more with his example off the track during the worst moments of his sporting career. Is the only player in the world’s badminton elite who has managed to overcome a serious knee injury and return to the elite. But, in addition, and if that were not enough, she has managed to break the rules not only once but twice, surprising medical specialists and fans from all over the world.
Both in the first injury, in January 2019 when she was in the best moment of her career, and in the second, in May 2021, just a few months after defending her current Olympic gold in Tokyo, the Huelva native always She was convinced that she was going to return to the top even though everyone beyond his work team told him otherwise. “Despite Life has put many stones in my path, I have been overcoming them“, he noted in an interview for Relevo prior to traveling to Paris. Recognized is the phrase that has always accompanied him in all aspects of his life: ‘I can because I think I can.’ Perhaps for this reason, in both hard blows, he returned to train just a few days after their respective operations… even if it was sitting down.
And it is that Returning to the elite after two injuries in badminton is even more complicated for a Spanish athlete than in any other discipline.. As history shows, the elite of the sport of midfielder is marked by the Asian potential of countries such as China, India, South Korea or Japan, which are an inexhaustible pool of players capable of dominating the game, as perfectly analyzed by the Carolina herself: “There they are ‘lucky’, in quotes, that they have an army of badminton players, because there badminton is power. So, The moment one injures something minimal, be it knee, foot or shoulder, whatever, you already have five more in the bedroom.“.
The courage to get up after ruthless adversities that have scarred his knees has also coincided in time with an even crueler moment: the death of his father in July 2020. Another misfortune, personal and with serious damage to her unbreakable champion mentality, which she assimilated as a new blow as if she were a boxer who does not want to give up despite being against the ropes. He achieved it and was able to look at the sky in each of his new successes.
No one can doubt that Carolina Marín is an example of improvement, but also a mirror in which young people can look at themselves when it comes to break any predetermined scheme through your dreams. Who would even dream of having a Spanish woman at the top of a sport like badminton? Well that’s it, power because you think you can.
