There would be many reasons to reward Carolina Marín (Huelva, 32 years old) for his sporting record. For your Olympic gold in Rio 2016 appearing from a country with no tradition in badminton to assault a kingdom prohibited to any player who was not Asian. For his three world championships (2014, 2015 and 2018) leaving the world with its mouth open. For the eight Europeans, a continent in which he has not found a rival. Because she is already the Princess of Asturias of Sports… But on this occasion AS, which has already recognized her for all of this, will give the Andalusian the Mariscal statuette for her values. An award, ‘Positive Sport’ that highlights their resilience, a word that he has tattooed on his body.
Carolina has suffered three very serious knee injuries. The last one, when she was going for gold at the Paris 2024 Games and that froze everyone’s hearts. He also struggles to recover from the latter to retire on the court. “For me, resilience means a lot. It has marked me so much… any obstacle that has come my way, I have adapted it and I have been able to overcome it. It is going beyond improvement. Adapt and overcome,” he says.
Some lessons that Carolina now explains in talks to companies, clubs, conferences… and that everyone wants to hear. Not in vain, According to a study by ADESP (Spanish Sports Association), the Andalusian is the most admired Spanish athleteahead even of footballers like Alexia Putellas and Aitana BonmatíGolden Balls in soccer. And she, in addition to winning, stirs up feelings.
Tears in Paris 2024
The medals shouted into the wind (as Arantxa Sánchez Vicario once shouted them) brought her into every home, especially after the gold in Rio 2016. But also the misfortunes. At the Paris Games he tore the cruciate ligament and menisci in his right knee in the semifinals.in what was his third serious knee injury (cruciate ligament on the right in 2019 and ligament and meniscus on the left two months before the Tokyo Games, in which he could not be there). Her crying calmed the euphoria. She was beating the Chinese He Bingjiao by 21-14 and 10-8 when a bad support after a shot landed her on the ground. There was no consolation. “It can’t be, I’ve broken myself, I’ve broken myself,” Fernando Rivas was heard saying.his coach, at the Arena Porte de La Chapelle. The hug with his rival was also one of the moments of the Games and the gesture of the Chinese woman, climbing to the podium with a pin from Spain as support for the best player in history.
Carolina, who in another show of resistance did not want to leave the court in a wheelchair and insisted on doing so on foot, continues in the fight. Training. cWith the difficult but not impossible goal of playing again in the European Championships that Huelva will host, in the pavilion that bears his name, from April 6 to 12. “I prioritize health over sport, because life goes on. Today, my knee continues to respect me. Now, more than ever, I have to listen to my body. Competing is secondary today. It is something that has been difficult for me to accept, but my knee is very delicate and the goal is simply to reach those Europeans”, he explained at the AS Deporte en Positivo Congress, last June.
There, at the Círculo de Bellas Artes, he gave other lessons in values. “Life has given me very difficult tests. I don’t know if life has been fair or unfair to me. I saw myself in Tokyo winning my second Olympic gold medal, without a doubt, but… After those two breaks, you try to get over it. It seems that when Carolina overcomes two injuries, it also has to overcome a third. As if she were a superhero. But Carolina is human and feels and suffers. In Paris, I was very prepared and my body was respecting me, even though I had had a setback with the last knee I had surgery on. “I was ready, but 11 points from the final… There I saw the end of my career completely,” she said, showing the most human side of a player who seems inhuman on the court.
Legacy
Beyond sports, the Princess of Asturias of Sports also looks to the future. He doesn’t want his emergence in badminton to stop there. “I will try not to stop talking about badminton in my country. There will not be another Carolina, because people are not comparable in the same way that Alcaraz is not comparable to Nadal, but I hope there is another Spaniard or Spaniard who achieves what I achieved. I would also love to create an academy in Spain,” he lists.
The motto, the leitmotifwhich has guided his entire career is ‘I can because I think I can’which hangs in his training room at the Madrid High Performance Center. “For me, it’s not just a phrase. It has been very useful in difficult times when there has been a lot of media or external pressure. “It helps me focus on what is in my hands.”he explains. For now, and waiting to see it again (hopefully) on the floor, What they will have between them on December 1st will be another prize. Special: ‘AS Positive Sport Award’.
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