Letizia and Felipe support Carolina Marín after she ‘breaks through’ at the Olympics: “You are our champion”

A heartbreaking moment was experienced this Sunday in Paris. Carolina Marín was playing the badminton semi-final against China’s Bing Jiao He with mastery. She was winning when she twisted her knee in a bad move and fell to the ground screaming in pain. The winner of the Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro 2018 tried to continue with a knee brace but it was impossible and she asked to retire drowned in tears. Shocking images that have gone around the world and have reached the Spanish Royal House, from where King Felipe and Queen Letizia wanted to support the athlete: “You are our champion, there is no medal that can match the value of the lesson of honour and pride that you have given to the world, the most worthy representation of the Olympic spirit.”

The message from the monarchs continues: “You will come back stronger, as you have always done, and you deserve the applause of all of Spain. Thank you, Caro.”

It should be remembered that the relationship between Carolina Marín and the Spanish royal family goes a step further because, after winning her Olympic gold, Queen Letizia invited her to a private audience at Zarzuela to make her a surprising proposal: to give private badminton lessons to her daughters, Leonor and Sofía. “She wanted me to go to the palace to give lessons to the girls. That hasn’t happened, but well… just the fact that she told me that she wanted her daughters to play badminton made me very excited.”revealed the champion. “I was very surprised because she followed us quite a lot, she followed us quite a lot in that championship, she told me some results that I was amazed because I didn’t expect that from her.”

Last Wednesday, the princess and her sister met with Marín and had a very close encounter at the Olympic Village, which they captured with a memorable photo. Next October, Leonor will also present the Princess of Asturias Award for Sport to Carolina at the Campoamor Theatre in Oviedo.

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