Carolina Marin targets Paris Olympics gold medal after injury-hampered years

Carolina Marin and Rafael Nadal are arguably two of the most prominent Spaniards in racket sports. Their careers have seen plenty of success around the globe. Marin’s highlights read: gold medals at 2016 Rio Olympics and at 2014, 2015 and 2018 World Championships. Nadal, meanwhile, has won a joint-record 22 Grand Slam titles and a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Away from the incredible achievements, there is also the challenge of injuries. Nadal’s injury-laden career, and the success despite is, is well documented. Marin faced her own fight as an ACL injury forced her to go under the knife and skip the Tokyo Olympics. Since 2019, both her knees had the ACL torn at different periods. It affected her mentally and physically. The then-reigning Olympic, World and European champion was “reduced to tears.” Marin sees Nadal as an inspiration. “That’s what everyone sees on their television screens — he wins a lot of competitions; he is probably the best athlete in tennis," Marin said during a conversation facilitated by LaLiga. “For me, though, he is more an inspiration as a person than an athlete. I always focus more on the person.” After the surgery, she spent 10 hours a day in rehabilitation, physiotherapy sessions and swimming pool work to get back to the badminton court. She missed the opportunity to defend her Olympic title but is eager to go after the gold in Paris. “It makes you grow, these adversities. It’s an obstacle, certainly, and I have managed to overcome that obstacle. I see myself very capable of being very competitive until the Games in Paris in 2024. So the objective is clear: get that gold medal in Paris,” said the 29-year-old from Huesca, Spain. The back-to-back knee injuries were intertwined with the loss of her dad in an accident in July 2020. Many would go on a downward spiral with such events — but not Marin. “I’m very strong-headed that way," she said. “When I started having injuries in my knee before Tokyo, I couldn’t achieve my objective and what I was preparing for. In the end, because of what had happened before — the injury, the loss of my dad — it made me say to myself, ‘Well, I’ve only got three years to wait for the next Games. And because I haven’t achieved what I had set out to do (in Tokyo), I’m now going to prepare myself for Paris’. “And today, the feeling I have about myself is very good, certainly better than last year. Because it is true that I had a year-and-a-half which were very difficult. My knee hasn’t allowed me to train as much as I would’ve liked. I haven’t been able to push myself as much as I wanted to. But from December last year up until now, I haven’t had any pain in my knee. I’ve gone back to enjoying playing badminton. And so I see myself being very competitive again.” Marin returned to the court last year and didn’t take much time in making an immediate impact. She won the European title and reached the final of French Open. This season she’s made the quarters in Malaysia, India and finished runner-up in Indonesia. Marin and LaLiga have agreed to renew her agreement for the global expansion of Spain’s football league until 2024. Read all the Latest News, Trending News,  Cricket News, Bollywood News,  India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.