Madrid, Oct 25 (EFE).- Carolina, the people’s athlete. The most loved by the Spanish. Princess of Asturias Sports Award 2024. She has 604,000 followers on Instagram. Twelve top-level brands accompany her in sponsorship, which identify in the champion from Huelva values of self-improvement, leadership, closeness, resilience and empathy towards the public, not only in Spain but in Asia, where she has a number of fans of high fidelity.
On August 4 there was a turning point. She was injured in the Olympic semifinal in Paris 2024. And from that day until now, the share of her followers in Spain increased by 27 percent; more than 155,000 people joined its social network. A significant fact of the ‘Carolina fervor’ that Spain is experiencing following her cruel goodbye in Paris. Well, until that moment, his ‘reels’ were more viewed in India than in Spain. It’s not like that anymore. Now, Spain leads that ranking. The third step was Indonesia. The cruciate fracture and her rehabilitation period have sparked extra interest in Carolina’s sporting and social life in her country, whose popularity is seeking another peak after her recognition in Oviedo.
“I feel grateful because when I go to the pavilion in Delhi and compete, I feel as if I were in my own home,” Carolina recently stated in EFE. She has built her own brand. Next to Fernando Rivas, the ‘Luis de la Fuente of badminton’, the coach who captured his talent at the age of 14 and convinced his parents to travel to Madrid and settle in the Blume Residence to be a High Performance athlete. Carolina got it right and time showed that an Olympic gold was on the way.
The five keys that weigh the companies that associate with Carolina Marín make up a trajectory, which is recognized this Friday at the Campoamor theater in Oviedo.
.1. Spirit of improvement. Injuries have entered his life at critical moments. “But he has always gotten up. The last one, a cruciate ligament injury at the Paris Olympics, was shocking. From the first minute, she was already Carolina from Spain. These months he has received support and love from around the world. People have not left him alone,” they emphasize from those around him.
Carolina admits that she is living these weeks overwhelmed by being at the peak of popularity after this cruciate and meniscus injury. He manages positive energy with his personal psychologist and is clear that he will retire “on a badminton court.” Playing. I wouldn’t give up sports on crutches without trying. He confesses that it would make him extremely sad. And she is a rebel and a winner. A sense of work and resilience that engages with firms that trust in their impeccable roadmap.
Javier Tebas, from LaLiga, was one of the first people to lend his support and sponsorship to Carolina. “Since 2016, we have had the honor of accompanying you on your incredible journey. Your fighting spirit, determination and passion for badminton are an inspiration for all of us and for millions of fans around the world,” commented Tebas as soon as his serious injury became known. And the executives of large companies have always trusted the discipline of Carolina Marín, starting with Ignacio Sánchez Galán, from Iberdrola, which is betting on the Olympic medalist and is in its sponsorship portfolio.
.2. Leadership. Carolina exhibits simplicity. Communicate well. And it is an institution in the High Performance Center (CAR) of Madrid. He is an absolute reference for young people who dream of winning a podium in the world of sports. She already lives outside the CAR, but she lives with the rest of the athletes from a pavilion that the CSD gave her to grow professionally, herself and the world of badminton. His leadership is incontestable. Her life lessons and her defense of her colleagues encourage brands to believe in her.
.3. Closeness. The town athlete. He doesn’t spare a minute to greet everyone. “The number of messages has been so overwhelming that, to this day, I continue to read, people continue to send me messages of support, of affection, that I don’t need to prove anything, that I have already proven everything, and above all There is one thing that I am most proud of, I feel, and it is the values that people take with them and that I have transmitted as an athlete and as a person. For me that makes me very happy.”
When I was on crutches the first few weeks, I would ask, when people approached to take photos, that they please be careful. He had some little scares. Far from the ‘celebrity’ world, Carolina has a smile and grace for the public, children and adults.
.4. Resilience. “I want to retire from a badminton court, but it is also true that I don’t set any time for myself. I don’t want to be in any hurry, as for example, I have had the previous two to return it as soon as possible, no. If I’m honest, I neither want nor think about badminton. I want to leave it aside a little, I want to live day to day, I want to dedicate the time that the leg needs.”
Despite the serious knee injuries she suffered before Paris, Carolina Marín got up, competed and arrived at Paris 2024 “like a wolf.” On the track, he confesses, “when he bites, he doesn’t let go.”
.5. Empathy. “On the one hand it is like a very great joy because I did not imagine that people could empathize with me so much and receive so much support and affection, and on the other hand it is like surely if I had won the gold and nothing had happened to me, well I assumed that Carolina Marín was going to win the gold medal, but I think that, with this type of things, unfortunately, people empathize because they realize what an athlete has to do. It is already my third knee injury, I have overcome two, I was 11 points away from being in an Olympic final, I don’t know if I would have won the gold, but I will tell you one thing and my team has also told me this: if I had “Played the way I was playing the quarterfinals and the semifinal, that gold was very close, I have no doubt.” Carolina’s words in a recent interview in EFE.
Ignacio García, representative of the player, recalled this Friday that prestigious brands such as Yonex, Iberdrola, Movistar, Santander, LaLiga, Samsung, Toyota, Sanitas, Carrefour, UCAM, Maurice Lacroix and Play Station trust Carolina Marín, while negotiating other agreements for the year 2025.
The Princess of Asturias award served to confirm these days in the city, the affection of the people in Asturias, a community closely linked to her because her father, who died a few years ago, accompanied her to a very special and unforgettable Spanish championship in Vegadeo , which Carolina Marín remembered these days.
(c) EFE Agency
