BTN News: Carolina Marín was soaring, more flexible, agile, and stronger than ever, when her right knee gave way as she landed on the court during an ordinary play in the middle of the badminton semifinals at the Paris Games this Sunday morning. She collapsed to her side, turned towards her coach, Fernando Rivas, who was watching from the bench five meters away, and said, “I’ve broken it.”
Rivas, her lifelong companion who had trained her since she was a child, covered his face with his hands. No one was more qualified than the victim of two previous ACL tears to diagnose a third. Carolina left the competition at the Porte de la Chapelle pavilion after halting her semifinal match against China’s He Bing Jiao in the second set. She was leading 10-6 after winning the first set 21-14. Her opponent seemed resigned to defeat. The Spanish star had a silver medal within her grasp when she misstepped following the shuttlecock’s trajectory, collapsing with a groan. Her collapse was spontaneous, and she remained motionless. Her coach rushed to console her with a hug, but the final act of this tragedy was complete. Crying inconsolably in the locker room, she marked the end of one of the most wonderful, difficult, and challenging sagas in Spanish sports history. Her coach was the first to know. “I didn’t want my career to end like this,” she told him.
“Carolina is devastated,” Rivas admitted after accompanying her to the locker room. “This has been very cruel. We have no words. The level she reached, how she went from strength to strength in the competition, and the determination with which she approached the semifinal… it’s very tough. But we have to run the tests and stay calm. We have to accept what’s happening.”
The heavy memory of her previous ACL tears in 2019 and 2021, once in each knee, loomed over the green court. The right knee, the same one she was clutching worriedly, was the first to be injured during the Indonesia Masters in 2019. The recovery was incredibly tough. As tough as the recovery from the second ACL tear, but not as intimidating as the memory of the trauma that condemned her to miss the Tokyo Games after winning gold in Rio 2016. For years, she fought to endure the pain, conquer the fear, and return to peak performance. When she won the prestigious All England tournament this year, she confirmed her comeback and aimed for gold in Paris. The 31-year-old’s dream faded this Sunday when the final and at least a silver medal seemed within reach.
After an examination and a brief pause, Carolina stood up. Following a long and anxious silence, the crowd applauded. Chinese, French, and Spanish fans cheered. “Come on Carolina! No fear!” shouted an enthusiastic supporter. She limped visibly towards the bench and strapped on a black knee brace. She returned to the court. The match resumed. He Bing Jiao won the next two points. The Spanish player tried to make an explosive effort to respond to her opponent’s shot but faltered halfway. She couldn’t even plant her foot without experiencing a spasm. She turned and went to the back of the court, collapsing, kneeling, in a fetal position, crying before admitting to the referee that she was withdrawing.
“It’s clear that Carolina had recovered excellently from her knee surgeries, otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to compete at the level she did in these Games,” explained Diego García Germán, a traumatologist for the winter sports federation who takes care of skiers’ knees, which are particularly strained. “Unfortunately, no matter how well we operate and rehabilitate, zero risk doesn’t exist. Re-tearing is a reality whose incidence increases with the patient’s activity level. If you engage in recreational sports, the recurrence rate of ACL tears is 5%-10%; but in some high-level sports, it rises to 30%-40%. Due to anatomical, muscular reactivation, and hormonal factors, the risk of rupture and re-rupture is higher in women than in men. If the sport they play isn’t cycling or canoeing, but one like badminton or basketball, where jumping, pivoting, and rotating are involved, the probability is maximum.”
Not a single case
Knee injuries in badminton are common. As frequent as they are terminal in the fastest racket sport. “No badminton player has ever recovered from an ACL tear,” Carolina said before traveling to Paris, “what happens is that in Asia, there are many, and neither the countries nor the federations make the effort to recover the injured players.” Overcoming two tears seemed impossible in a game that demands the most extreme footwork, the most forced contortions, in continuous runs back and forth to jump, making serpentine gestures that often cause a loss of spatial awareness in the air. Ankles and knees, which must absorb the landings, bear the brunt. “Humans weren’t born to make these movements,” explained Guillermo Sánchez, Carolina Marin’s physical trainer, months ago, who performed a true masterpiece in rehabilitating the player.
“I can’t think about the Olympic final anymore,” said He Bing Jiao, virtually defeated but qualified, unable to hold back tears. Carolina left the pavilion without speaking publicly.
The entire stadium stood to applaud the player overcome by her body as she left the stage. As many times throughout her life, Carolina Marín fought on the edge of the inconceivable. Had she won Olympic gold in Paris, the girl who emigrated from Huelva to Madrid at 14 to conquer the distant Asian realm of badminton would have become the first player in history to win two Olympic championships and two world championships.
