Carolina Marín: “They have been very stressful weeks, it is important not to push too hard ahead of the Games”

MADRID, 25 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Huelva badminton player Carolina Marín warned that “it is important not to force too much” after “three weeks of a lot of work” and “on the way to the Games” in Paris, so she has not yet decided on her participation in the Madrid Spain Masters , which will be held starting this Tuesday at the Gallur Sports Center in the capital, although it is “on the path” that it wants to “continue and travel.”

“This is the path we want to follow and we want to travel. I have put the focus of attention on where we want to work, which is to continue improving the game, continue improving that mental part and, above all, that physically I continue to find myself as I am finding myself every day. today,” said the Huelva native in statements to the media following the presentation of the Madrid Spain Masters held at the capital’s City Hall.

The 2016 Olympic champion acknowledged being “very happy” and “proud of the work” after her victories in the All England nine years later and in the recent tournament in Switzerland. “There is a lot behind her. You just see it many times when you get on the podium and they hang the medal on you. But it has been complicated, because I have already been in tournaments for three consecutive weeks,” she confessed.

“The first week was in Paris, in the stadium where I am going to play the Games. That first defeat was quite hard. I didn’t expect it, because the conditions were very good. Physically I felt good, mentally I was also prepared, and it was a very tough match,” she said about her debut match at the French Open, in which she lost (14-21, 21-16 and 21-17) to the American Beiwen Zhang.

It was then that he had a “very important conversation” with his coach, Fernando Rivas. “We were talking a lot and it was that decisive point of making a change in myself. Above all, to get rid of those fears and those insecurities that I had hidden, it was to scratch a little inside myself, to open myself up with the whole team,” she said. .

“It was a very hard conversation, I cried a lot, I learned hard things, I learned a lot. And that has been what has made me change my entire focus in each of the games I have played,” celebrated the Huelva native, who recognized that she had ” a quite hidden fear.” “It was the fear of failing myself. I make a lot of effort, a lot of work. No one has given me anything in my sports career and in my life. I once again focused on the path where I want to have it,” she said.

Marín’s next step will be the Madrid Spain Masters, which starts in Gallur this Tuesday, although his presence is not yet confirmed. “Playing at home is always a happiness. We are still evaluating whether I am going to play or not. Today I will make the decision together with the team. It is true that I have already had a very busy three weeks, with two finals. And I also have the European Championship in two weeks, which is a fairly important tournament,” he recalled.

“My heart tells me to play, but there are times when my head stops us a little longer, because the Olympic Games are also in four months. So, in terms of the level of health, well, we have to evaluate everything,” added the Spaniard, who explained that “the physical and the mental always go together.”

The 30-year-old athlete is “physically well”, taking into account that it is “obvious” that “the knee must continue to be taken care of” – she could not be in the last Games due to an injury in that area -. “It is also important after three weeks of heavy workload not to continue pushing too hard and on the way to the Games,” she admitted.

“We have to be consistent with the decision I make. On a physical level I feel fine, but it is already a lot of burden after three weeks and on a heart level, my family is even coming this week, whatever decision we make, I will be well surrounded in one way or another. Today we will make the decision, I will meet with the team and we will try to report as soon as possible,” he reiterated.