Carolina Marín (Huelva, 1993) says that this afternoon, when she was told that she was the 2024 Princess of Asturias Sports Award, she stopped training and burst into tears, excited, and remembered her father, who died four years ago and who was very close, and to her mother. “I know that they are both very proud of who I am as a daughter and as a person,” says the winner, still with emotions running high in the middle of a day that she will take a while to forget.
-Why were you so excited when they told you that you were the winner?
-It is a great recognition, a very, very important award. It is a very special occasion. He caught me unexpectedly, I wasn’t expecting it at all. I didn’t even know she was nominated or that they were saying the winner today! I was very shocked to win it, I dreamed about it for several years. When they told me it, I didn’t believe it, and I think, in a way, I still don’t.
-When you look back and think about your career, what is the first memory that comes to mind?
-Ugh, many moments. Many people have congratulated me on the award, I try to respond little by little. One of them has been my friend Laura, who is why I started playing. I told her that she is also partly to blame for this, and we were both very emotional.
-He has just won the All England (the most prestigious tournament on the circuit, World Cup and Olympic Games aside) just a month and a half ago. Are we already seeing the best version of Carolina Marín after the ordeal of injuries she has suffered?
-No, because the best version is going to appear at the Paris Games. But it is true that now I am very well, in very good shape. I hope I continue to respect my body until the Games and can give 100%.
-He broke his knee for the second time just two months before the 2021 Tokyo Games, so he was unable to defend the Rio de Janeiro 2016 gold on the track. Does that give him more competitive fuel for Paris?
-Yes, definitely. When I broke my other knee so close to Tokyo, it was motivating to think that the next Games were only three years away; I tried to draw strength every day from wherever I went.
-Did you ever think that you wouldn’t be able to play again?
-On the one hand, yes, I am not going to deceive you, and on the other hand, no. The last thing I wanted in my life was for an injury to make me hang up my racket: I want that decision to be mine, for when the time comes I be the one to say: we have come this far. Although I didn’t want the injury to stop me, it is true that there have been many obstacles.
-At the beginning of the season, you commented that there were many people who did not believe in you. Did you ever feel alone?
-Yes and no. Those who have not believed in me are people who have never been very on my side. After his injuries, many doubted that he would be able to compete and win again. Those who have truly always been by my side and trusted me, people like my friends, my family and my team, are the ones who have accompanied me in this process.
-Another very important factor in your career has been your special attention to mental health.
-I came to Madrid when I was 14, and at 15 I started working with a psychologist. I have been to several specialists over the years. They have helped me face fears, nerves and insecurities that appeared before, during and after games. I have also worked with a sports coach, because I wanted to know myself better and give voice and name to emotions that I felt, but that I did not know how to express in words.
-She has reached the top in a sport that was always dominated by Asian women and in which it seemed unthinkable for a Spanish woman to be among the best. When did she realize that she could go this far?
-I gradually realized my improvement. There was a moment in my career when I wanted to break that wall that I had inside myself and tell myself that, if I wanted to dream big and be the best, I had to beat the Chinese, the Japanese, the Indonesian and anyone else. was in front of me, regardless of its flag: I had to break that kind of Chinese Wall with myself. I achieved it in the second round of the 2014 World Cup, when I beat the third best in the world, who was Chinese. I told myself: it’s now or never. I managed to convince myself that I could do it, and I ended up winning the final against the best in the world, who was also Chinese.
-Many boys and girls play badminton today thanks to your example. What would you say to those young people who started playing because of you? What does it mean to be a source of inspiration for so many people?
-I would tell them to have fun, to enjoy playing and not to get overwhelmed by being the best, that this comes little by little, with patience and effort; Just by touching the racket and the shuttlecock on the first day you are not going to be a world champion, that is impossible. I feel proud to have put the word badminton in the mouths of all Spaniards, to find families playing badminton on the street in my country; Not long ago, it was something unthinkable.
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2024-05-09 08:52:01
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