‘I want to be the best player in history’, says Carolina Marin

In a country that had negligible history and legacy of badminton, it was unusual for Spain’s Carolina Marin to pursue it professionally, starting the sport at the age of eight. 

But it was precisely that peculiarity that made Marin want to walk the uncharted path. 

“It was the strange of the sport, you know,” Marin says in a chat here on Wednesday when asked what attracted her to badminton. 

“To see the shuttle, to see the different racquet. In Spain, we are only used to watching the tennis racquet while growing up. Badminton was strange, so I got interested in it,” she adds.

The uniqueness drew her to the sport and the 25-year-old has created her own unique space in the world of badminton.

The Huelva-born Spaniard is the reigning Olympic champion – she is the only European woman to win a badminton gold in the 2016 Rio Games – has scaled the world No. 1 ranking in women’s singles and in August earlier this year, she became the first woman ever to win three World Championships titles.

In a sport that had Asian supremacy written all over it, a soft-spoken, ever-smiling but warrior-like European athlete single-handedly managed to erase it.

Marin shifted base from her home in Huelva to train in Madrid with Spain national badminton coach Fernando Rivas at a young age, plauged with worms of self-doubt about the journey she had chosen. 

“In tennis, for example,” Marin says, “Rafa Nadal had someone to look up to, someone who had already opened a way. I didn’t have that. The only people I had was my coach, my team, and I had to believe in them. 
“It was something very new for us, but something very interesting,” she adds.

All along the territory of the unknown, however, she was clear about one thing. 

“I kept playing badminton because it’s a very competitive sport. I’m a very competitive person naturally from inside. So, maybe, that is why I loved badminton,” she adds.

Armed with natural talent and the novelty of being left-handed, Marin began to make waves. 

She was crowned the 2011 junior European champion at the age of 18, won her maiden BWF Grand Prix title in 2013, BWF Superseries title in 2014 and had the badminton world on her feet the same year by clinching the World Championships gold after beating Chinese superstar Li Xuerui in the final. 

Did she always believe she could become a world beater?

“No. Never,” she says, flashing her infectious smile.

“Sometimes, you can do something, and you don’t have any regrets. But if you don’t try, you will never know,” she adds.

“I just kept trying. I just kept improving. You can put so much effort, so much sacrifice, but you never know what you will get at the end of it. 

“I just believed in my team that they are doing the right things for me. I just followed what they said. You can see all the efforts, all the sacrifice, and this is my pay back,” she adds.

Lull after Rio high

Marin tasted all the highs the sport offered at an age the other lesser mortals could barely find their feet, becoming a world champion at 21, a world No. 1 at 22 and an Olympic champion at 23. 

The fast run meant she faced a challenge she didn’t know even existed all this while.

After her 2016 Rio show that stamped her authority as badminton’s best at that point, she took some time in pushing herself to taking the next step. 

“That is why I had a period of one-and-a-half years which were not very good,” she says.

“I didn’t have any motivation to tell myself to keep practising hard. It was really difficult – not just for myself but also my team – to keep motivating ourselves because I already reached that high.

“Me and my team had so many conversations. We spoke a lot about what can we do to keep ourselves motivated, to keep working hard, to create a new way, to believe and to follow it,” she adds.

Nadal keeps inspiring

And that’s where her childhood idol, Rafael Nadal – the Spanish tennis legend who, like Marin, tasted record-breaking success at a young age – became a source of inspiration to her again.

“He has inspired me a lot, on court as well as off court,” Marin says of Rafa’s influence on her even at this stage of her career.

“I love these kind of people. He has has achieved everything in his career but he still wants to keep going and wants to keep winning. I also want to do that now,” she adds.

Marin has revisited her motivation metre, and it has touched the roof. 

She wants to win another Olympic gold as well as two more World Championships to match Chinese icon Lin Dan’s unparalled record – male or female – of winning five world titles in singles. 

“I want to be the best player in history,” Marin says. 

“And for that, I have to win one more Olympics and minimum two more World Championships. It’s easy to say, but I know it’s going to be really difficult,” she adds.

While all her focus right now is on rewriting chapters of history, she has a plan for the future of badminton in Spain. 

“When I finish my career, I will like to help the kids follow the path,” she says.

The path she chose, the path she followed, the path she led.

MARIN SPEAKS

On which rivalry she likes more: Saina or Sindhu 

Both are great, really difficult to play. They have different styles of game. I have to plan new stratergies for them. It's difficult to pick one between them, because they are so different. But it's good, because I have to keep thinking new everytime what I have to do against them.

On being back in India to play Premier Badminton League

I'm so excited. I love this country. I love how much people love the sport here. I am very impressed about how people love me, and how people support me when I play here. I mean, I'm a Spanish girl but they don't care about that.

MARIN MEDALS

Olympics

Gold: 2016 Rio

World Championships

Gold: 2014 Copenhagen
Gold: 2015 Jakarta
Gold: 2018 Nanjing

SAINA OR SINDHU?

Both are great, really difficult to play. They have different styles of game. I have to plan new strategies for them. It’s difficult to pick one between them, because they are so different. But it’s good, because I have to keep thinking new every time what I have to do against them.

BEING BACK IN INDIA

I’m so excited. I love this country. I love how much people love the sport here. I am very impressed about how people love me, and how people support me when I play here. I mean, I’m a Spanish girl but they don’t care about that.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Carolina Marin is the first woman shuttler ever to win three World Championships titles
   
• She is the only European woman to win a badminton gold in the Olympics
   
• Marin first became world No. 1 in singles in June 2015 at the age of 22.