Carolina Marín passed by the microphones of Cadena SER’s El Larguero this Tuesday to talk about how his recovery is going after the serious knee injury which she suffered just a month ago during the semi-finals of the Paris Olympic Games in her match against China’s He Bingjiao.
Marín is continuing her recovery in Huelva after undergoing emergency surgery in Madrid. “I’m feeling better. I needed time and peace, as I asked for on social media, and I’m feeling better. Physically it’s a very slow process, we’re in the first four weeks, but my heart, my head and my soul will need more time. I went to Huelva after my operation to be with my family and that is what I have done. It is the first time since I came to Madrid at 14 that I have spent more than a week at home. It has given me a lot of vitality. The first week in Huelva was very hard because everything was very fresh, seeing my knee and the scars was very shocking. But being surrounded by my family has brought a lot of smiles to my face, which I thought would take longer, and it has been fundamental.”
Although her dream of a second Olympic medal has vanished, Marín is left with the affection she has received from the people and the empathy they have shown her, “I have spoken to many people and they told me, ‘If Carolina Marín had won the gold medal, it would have been normal.’ But I never imagined that everyone could empathize so much with that moment of breaking my knee for the third time. I never imagined that people would welcome me with such affection.. A medal is the reward for all the work you do, but this time the medal has been all the love I have received from people, there is no better medal than that. When they have empathized with me they have realized what is behind it: the two serious injuries I had, being close to another Olympic final, overcoming the death of my father… It has been four very difficult years of overcoming obstacles. And I am left with what people tell me about the values I transmit.”
Carolina Marín confessed that the injury in Paris was the most serious she has suffered in her career, as she had to undergo emergency surgery after tearing her ligament and both menisci. “I was injured on Sunday the 4th, the next day I returned to Spain and had tests and on Wednesday the 7th I had surgery. It all happened very quickly because of the state of my knee. I had torn my cruciate ligament and both menisci, and the external meniscus was the worst I had because I tore it out by the roots and flapped backwards. It was a more serious injury than the two previous ones I had. It was the worst damage I could have suffered and that’s why I had to have emergency surgery. I knew on the track that it was serious. The moment I jump and land I hear a crack and I know I have torn my ACL. It was the same jump with the same landing that I broke my leg in 2019. Back then I didn’t hear the crack or know that feeling but this time as soon as I felt it I looked at my coach and said ‘I’ve broken it, I can’t believe it. ’ I tried to keep going but I had no stability in my leg.”
The Spanish player also confessed what she feels when she sees the images of her injury again and regretted that, once again, her dream has been taken away from her. “I feel very sad when I see the images of the injury. I knew that they were going to be my last Games and that the opportunity was very good given the way I was feeling. I felt like my dream was being taken away from me again. It was already taken away from me before Tokyo and again you feel like someone is pulling you back and taking away your dream. I talked about it with my team and when you reach the quarterfinals or semifinals of a tournament I always arrive feeling full, but I was arriving at these Games in very good shape. I don’t understand why this happened to me.”
Unlike with his two previous knee injuries, Marín says he wants to take it slow and steady this time so he can retire on a badminton court. “I’m going to take all the time my body and my heart need to see if I want to step onto a badminton court again. I’m not in a hurry because I was already in a hurry with the other two knee injuries. It’s true that I told Fernando Rivas (her coach) ‘I can’t take it anymore’, because everything has happened to me in five years. And he told me that he was very proud of me. Then I thought about it and I thought to myself, ‘Caro, you’re not like that, how are you going to retire because of an injury?’ So I would love to retire on a badminton court but in no hurry.”
A retirement that will not take place at the Los Angeles Games in 2028 but that could happen in a very special place: at the 2026 European Championships in Spain, which Carolina Marín hopes will be held in Huelva. “The 2028 Los Angeles Games seem a long way off. My idea, if nothing had happened, was to retire at the World Championships in Paris next year, but I won’t make it. There is a possibility in 2026. I know that Spain is going to host a European Championship in 2026, although it is not yet known where, and I would love for Huelva to host that European Championship. at the Sports Palace that bears my name and being able to retire at home. That is my biggest dream right now and I want to fight for it.”
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