In the stands of La Chapelle Arena, Spanish flags and the Infantas Leonor and Sofia cheering on Carolina Marín, who is who she is for a reason and has reserved the central spot, number 1. Before her Olympic debut in Paris, the screens in the pavilion broadcast an explanation of the basic rules of badminton, for those new to the subject. Carolina knows Latin, and she beats the Danish Jenjira Stadelman in 41 minutes, by 21-11 and 21-19, and then she changes her serious expression for a smile on her return to the great stage of the Games.
The 2016 Rio champion is the same competitor as ever at 31, and her cry of liberation after the first point is a warning to sailors. In Paris, a road with many twists and turns leads to her, but when it comes to standing at the net, she no longer remembers her knee injuries, and her body responds so well that her confidence increases, and her game flies like the shuttlecock she hits.
“The sensations have gone from less to more,” she reflects with her first victory in her bag; “this first match of the Games is always complicated. You are on edge, you want to do well, to be focused on what you have trained for, and I also wanted to try out the arena, to know that there is air and therefore I have to control very well from both sides of the track and from the side… You have to be very focused on controlling the shuttlecock,” continues the Huelva native.
The night before, she slept soundly. The plan had been drawn up with her coach, Fernando Rivas. Together they had drawn up a strategy: to get and maintain the attack, the racket up, and only when that fails, in the second set, is when her rival gains ground and the nerves return until she regains control. She lacks variety of shots, she admits, but the victory grants her the lead in Group L, which she also shares with the Irish Rachael Darragh. The 16 group winners go through to the round of 16.
During the Games, Carolina Marín has put her social media and mobile phone aside. She is going for the podium. “Being in Paris means for me to have hope again. I have always had desire and motivation, no one has ever taken that away from me, but having hope again is very important, and now I have the hope of a child even though these are my third Games. I am here to fight for a medal. My chances are there, but I am focused on myself and not on the expectations outside,” she says.
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