Today Olympic Champion Carolina Marin is celebrating her 27th birthday. She may be a fierce fighter on court but off court, she is a little different. Through an interview with Elpais.com, Marin describes herself to be a friendly and a sociable person. She says many people find this surprising when they get to know her.
Outside of court life, Marin is a very outgoing girl. She likes dressing up. She revealed that she has more high heels than sneakers in her closet. Even though she doesn’t have the time to wear them often, just looking at them makes her happy.
“If I go out, I don’t wear flat shoes. I wear 10cm high heels. I spend 10 hours a day on badminton, while I spend 1 hour a month wearing heels. But that 1 hour totally changes my mood. And I like it,” Marin said.
On the court, Marin is often seen mumbling to herself during a heated match. When asked about this, she said, “Yes, sometimes people say I’m crazy because I talk to myself (during matches). I am not crazy, I convince myself of what I want to achieve, and that strengthens me.”
This reflects Marin’s motto: “I can because I believe I can.”
Marin thinks that talent plays a very small part in succeeding as a badminton player and it is all hard work, even though not everybody might not make it.
Behind her success of an Olympic gold medal, 3 World Championships titles and 4 European Championship titles is her coach Fernando Rivas. Rivas is more like a father to Marin. She was entrusted into his hands by her parents at the age of 14. Rivas is very strict in training Marin, but Marin admitted that if it was not so she would not be where she is right now.
While the interview was going on, Rivas passed by and saw Marin take a breather. He scolded her for not stretching after playing. Marin spent the rest of the interview on the floor stretching while answering the questions from the journalist.