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‘II Woman Sport Gala – ‘Pioneer Award’: Joana Pastrana

06/20/2022 at 20:08

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Gold in badminton at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, the Andalusian has overcome two serious knee injuries

In the image and likeness of her idol Rafa Nadal, the volantista dreams again after her second knee injury

To get an idea of ​​what has meant the figure of Carolina Marin especially in their land, you just have to take a walk around Huelva or its emblematic beaches such as Matalascañas or La Antilla and see young people playing badminton, a sport that was completely unknown.

Flamenco dancer in her childhood, her reality changed when a friend started playing badminton and little by little it became a passion in a sport that until now had been dominated without hesitation by Asian women, especially Thai, Indonesian, Chinese and Japanese women.

It stood out more and more At the age of 14, he made the difficult decision to leave and settle in the Joaquín Blume Residence in Madrid.. Two years later and always under the command of Fernando Rivas, in 2009 he began to write his success story by achieving the first medal in history for Spain in this sport (silver) at the Junior European Championships in Milan. Marín continued to take steps forward and two years later he achieved Junior gold in Vantaa (Finland).

Pleiad of Pentacles

2014 was his consecration. The woman from Huelva no longer feared the big stars with a philosophy very similar to that of her idol Rafa Nadal and in April she won gold in Kazan at the European Championships after winning three sets against the Danish Anna Thea Madsen, but the most historic thing would come just three months later. On August 31, 2014, he achieved the universal title by coming back in the final of the Copenhagen World Cup against the Chinese Li Xuerui in a sensational duel (17-21, 21-17 and 21-18).

With the Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro 2016 defeating the Indonesian Shindu in the final with another great comeback (19-21, 21-12 and 21-15) as the culminating moment of her career, Carolina Marín’s record is full of glory : three world golds, six Europeans and number 1 in the world for no more and no less than 66 weeks.

However, parallel to all these achievementsthe best European volantista of all time smiles again after two very serious injurieswhich makes her the ideal winner of the ‘Premio Superación’ that she will receive today in the second edition of the ‘Premios Woman Sport’ for demonstrating with her example that everything is possible and that there are no unattainable goals in life or in sport.

serious injuries

The first came when she was number 1 and the current world and European champion. On January 27 in Indonesia, Marin broke the anterior cruciate in his right knee and was knocked out for eight months. After falling in her return against the Thai Katethong, on 22-S she won the China Open and was followed by victories in Syed Modi and Turin.

The Spaniard also had to overcome the death of her father after an accident in July 2020, the year in which she could only win in Thailand, but began 2021 by beating the number 1 (Taiwanese Tzu-ying) in the final in Thailand and winning another title in this country. He also reigned in Switzerland against Sindhu, whom he already defeated in the 2016 Olympic final. and raised his sixth European in kyiv in May.

Nevertheless, in June while training he broke the anterior cruciate ligament and the two menisci of his left knee, which definitely left her out of the Tokyo Games. Far from wavering and always under the iron discipline of Fernando Rivas, the Andalusian has overcome the injury again and this year he has won the European Championship in Madrid again, beating the Scottish Kirsty Gilmour (21-10 and 21-12).

With the Paris Games two years away, Carolina Marín has also recovered of this second blow always with Nadal as a reference in a heroic achievement reminiscent of that of the Barça futsal player Sergio Lozano, who underwent three knee operations. Yours is amazing!

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