MADRID, 30 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish volante Carolina Marín, badminton world runner-up last Sunday in Copenhagen (Denmark), highlighted how much it has cost her to “believe” in herself after the two knee ligament injuries, which made her “insecure”. ” and lose “trust”.
“I would have loved the gold medal, but this has cost a lot, what has been the most belief in me, the second injury has diminished me and when I came back I did not do it when I should have because I was insecure and that affects confidence, since I was not able to find it”, declared the Huelva woman this Wednesday at the reception ceremony for her medal at the headquarters of the Higher Sports Council (CSD).
The silver medal could have been gold, because he fought “until the end” and to get there he had to work until exhaustion. “You can’t imagine what’s behind it, only the members of my team know how much we’ve had to fight and work every day,” she said.
The one from Huelva has had two very serious injuries, which have made her doubt “a lot” about her, so much so that if they told her a year ago that she was going to be runner-up in the world “she would not have believed it.” “I have shown myself that I can and thanks to that work that we have always carried out, we can say that nobody has given me anything in my life,” she remarked.
For the player it is “very complicated” to express in words what is behind her recovery and the moments she has had to go through, to accept her situation. “It has been very frustrating and today I can finally say that I have put an end to the injury and the pain and the frustration. We have already turned the page and now I want to open the path from today to the Games,” he said. she.
The volantista defined herself as an “emotional” girl who, thanks to injuries and psychological work, has learned to “expel her emotions” and above all to develop new skills. “In the first injury I developed patience and with the second I had to learn to fight against pain that I did not want to have, it is a long road and you have to surround yourself with the best people who can help you,” she said.
Regarding the psychological work, he highlighted the “luck” of having a work group that has made him “believe” that he was capable of winning the tournament and putting everything he had developed in training on the track and that successes do not end with this medal. “I continue to fight and there is still Carolina for a while, I want to stay with how positive the preparation has been and how well I have felt during the week of the tournament,” she confessed.
During his recovery he did think that the sport “could end”, something that goes through the mind of “every athlete” who suffers an injury of this type, a situation that increased with the second tear. “I have many doubts due to lack of confidence, because I had pain that did not make me train well and when you do not train well it is impossible to compete and get good results,” he said.
His next big goal is the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, for which there is less than a year left and where “I would not be satisfied with a silver medal” and from now on he will start working to change the color of the medal. “I’m going to fight with everything to go for the gold, and that within a year we can be celebrating it,” he concluded.
RIVAS: “SILVER DOES NOT TASTE LIKE GOLD, BUT IT IS A GREAT REWARD”
For her coach, Fernando Rivas, this silver “does not taste like gold”, but it is “a great reward” for her player’s resilience. “It is difficult to describe the process, but for the first time in many years we have not had to adapt any training and the way in which we have lost the final puts us in the way of working towards fighting for gold in Paris,” he reviewed. .
For his part, the general director of sports of the CSD, Fernando Molinero, thanked the player for the “life lesson” that she gives every day with her “way of working and training every day” until she achieves her goal. “It is a legendary silver because in addition to a medal it is a lesson in self-improvement and sacrifice,” he stressed.
For the leader, Marín has to serve as an “example” for society due to the “challenge” of winning a medal again after two severe injuries, demonstrating the necessary tenacity. “You represent values of self-improvement and effort that no matter what happens, they are still there and that is your legacy,” he explained.
The president of the Spanish Badminton Federation, Andoni Azurmendi, reflected “the merit” of this silver, which will serve as “motivation” to be on the podium at the Olympic Games. “Carolina is not back, because she has never left, she tries her best and the fruit of that work are the successes she has achieved,” he reflected.