Carolina Marin is ready for what could be a historic European Championships this year, not just for her but for the history of badminton. Will she be able to achieve what no other player has before?
As we are all watching the games of this second day of the championships, there are a few names that stand out on the thrilling contest for medals. One of the serious contenders we have just seen today is Carolina Marin and there is one thing that most fans probably cannot take out of their minds when watching here in this year’s tournament, and that is if she will make history by getting her fifth gold medal in a row, a feat no one has ever accomplished before.
First day with no troubles for Marin
The Belarusian player Anastasiya Cherniavskaya had one of the toughest challenges that any women’s singles player could have faced today. Cherniavskaya had just come from playing yesterday together with her women’s doubles companion Alesia Zaitsava, a game in which they fought Alexandra Bøje and Mette Poulsen that ended with the Belorussians losing 21-10 21-6.
Cherniavskaya tried to counterattack Marin’s smart moves, but the Spaniard demonstrated a superiority that was difficult to match. The last time we saw Marin on court was at the Swiss Open back in March and despite leaving as the champion of the tournament, she revealed just after winning that she had not been feeling 100 per cent throughout it. The world number four then decided not to play All England to fully recover and be prepared for all this year’s huge events. The path to recovery is long and she has encountered other difficulties, but she stays optimistic about her chances of getting a medal.
-I would like to say that I’m feeling really good but it’s not like that. We have a difficult situation in Spain in the last 15 days and I’d prefer not to talk about that. But otherwise, I just try to focus on what I’m doing in my practice, trying to see how it’s going when I play some games. Today I tried to control the shuttle, make sometimes a long rally, Marin explained.
There is no doubt that despite the hardships, Marin’s experience will combat such factors from disturbing her in such an important event. Injuries aside, the past year has been difficult due to COVID-19, and now there are the added inconveniences that the measures against the pandemic have brought, although essential to protect everyone’s health. The 27-year-old is aware of the seriousness of the situation as her country was one of the hardest hit in Europe and she has had to follow similar rules in the past few months.
-We arrived three days before for the quarantine. We spent one day in the room and I think we are used to doing that because in Thailand it was even worse, it was really tough. This is how the rules are now, we really have to take care of ourselves, Marin said.
In the right state of mind to make history
Not even a pandemic will get in the way of Marin’s ambitions. There have been four European Championships since 2014, and the Spanish player has managed to win all the women’s singles gold medals. Peter Gade has 5 men’s singles medals and Gillian Gilks has the impressive number of 6 mixed doubles medals, with an impressive total of 12 in all categories. So there are other players who have managed to earn such a number of medals, but never in a row. It can be easy to let the anticipation of such a major achievement get in the way of one’s focus, but Marin knows what she has to do.
-My goal for this tournament is to win the gold medal, to try to give my fifth title at the European Championships. I just focus game by game, I have to be ready for my opponents. I know they want to beat me, even more, this year because we have the Olympic Games in a few months, and then a few months later we have the World Championships. Of course, I know every opponent wants to beat me, but my focus is just to try and enjoy it on court and play game by game.
The 2021 European Championships will take place in Kyiv, Ukraine from 27 April to 2 May.