Carolina Marín, Olympic champion in Rio, three-time world champion and six-time European champion, poses during a meeting with the media in which she evaluated her pre-Olympic year. EFE/ Javier Lizón
Madrid, February 6.- Carolina Marín, triple badminton world champion, declared this Tuesday that she sees “external pressure” as favorable to win an Olympic medal, that she will not go to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower, but rather to go for the gold. and that the setback that his absence from Tokyo 2020 meant turned him into “motivation.”
The athlete from Huelva, with a record that includes three world and six European gold medals, is in full preparation for her second Olympic experience, after winning gold eight years ago, in Rio de Janeiro.
“I am fully recovered and looking forward to facing the competitions, mainly in March. The flu I caught has affected me, especially physically. I have been unemployed for two weeks, even taking antibiotics, but the objectives go much further and we have seen that it has not affected me so much to be among the top four in the ranking,” said Marín, at a press breakfast sponsored by her status as ambassador. from Banco Santander.
The Paris Games are the main objective in 2024, especially after the tear of the anterior cruciate ligament and the two menisci in his left knee prevented him from attending the previous Olympic event.
The difference compared to other Games is the desire and stubbornness I have when something happens to me, which is as if what I wanted at that moment had been stolen from me. The injury was a setback, but when I have something on my mind and they take it away from me, it makes me angry and I try to turn it into motivation and drive. Instead of being at the Games, being at home with a stiff leg, I tried to turn it into motivation,” he noted.
Regarding what awaits him in Paris, he indicated: “Experience is an asset in our favor. Just as in Rio I used the mental part in the semifinal with the Chinese (Xuerui Li), who was defending the Olympic gold in London, I will work to get into the heads of the others. That black area that my coach calls for going a little further. That is where we need to continue working,” she confessed.
“Now the main rivals, for example the number one, are nine years younger. There is a noticeable difference. Number two more or less the same. Everything has changed. One of the keys is that I am a very attacking girl, nowadays there is more fighting, the plays and matches are longer. The last competition I played a match in one hour and forty-five minutes, the longest match of my career,” commented the Spanish athlete, who is clear that the goal is gold in Paris.
“Whoever goes to the Games to enjoy it will do it differently than what I go to, which is to win gold. I don’t get out of my routines. In Rio I didn’t have time to see Christ. I didn’t take the photo of Christ but I don’t feel sorry either. I’m not going to see the Eiffel Tower in Paris, I’m going for the gold medal,” she stressed.
Carolina Marín said she is sure that her name, despite the passing of the years, continues to “weigh the rivals on the world circuit.”
“I wouldn’t sign a bronze or a silver, I want to go for the second gold. I am not satisfied with going less than what I have already achieved. Surely the rivals will be surprised to say that I am back and can beat anyone, because confidence is lost in a snap of the hands,” he noted.
Six months before the Olympic Games, Carolina Marín said she feels “very good” about the work she is doing with her psychologist.
“We never leave anything behind. I know that there is external pressure to win a medal but I am the first to want to win it. Everyone is very excited. It is an external pressure that I see as favorable because many people have confidence in me and I also have that confidence in myself and that I can get a medal and see myself at the top again,” she noted.
“It’s been many years of being at the top and just like before I said I trained eight hours, now the priority is quality over quantity. I already made the amount before. Today, I have two foreign esparrins and only I train. Before I shared training sessions. The quality is higher,” said Marín, who reiterated the importance of mental work to prepare the objectives.
“Mental preparation is important. We evaluate and correct every little detail that appears in training,” said the three-time world champion, focused on preparing for the start of the world circuit in March, with the French Open.
“It is a very important tournament. I travel with almost the entire team because it will be in the pavilion where the Games will be held. I will be able to work on all that mental section there with my psychologist,” declared Marín, who has not fully defined his route map to Paris.
“There are five tournaments in a row. Germany is a 300 and that is why we are going to focus on the French Open, because of the Games pavilion. Then the European Championship is very important and also the Madrid tournament. Due to preparation and calendar we do not know if it will be the best. We will see, because I would be very sad not to be in Madrid and not compete with my people, but the important thing is the Games and we have to be very selective,” he concluded.
EFE
2024-02-07 07:00:09
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