“I saw that my legs began to turn black” | Relief

It is likely that you have often thought, heard or read that elite sports are not entirely healthy, and that champions have to make physical and mental sacrifices far beyond those endured by most mortals. This story even becomes mythologized over time until the champion details his competition program in order to be competitive. This is the case of Carolina Marin. Spain’s Rio 2016 Olympic badminton champion stopped by El Vestuario to tell Quique Peinado how her training was turning into hell, how her coach was turning into a nightmare – all so she could get a little oxygen in the middle of the final . to be a tenth of a second faster when her powers are exhausted. The difference between winning and losing. There is no use in trying to summarize; It’s best to read the conversation and realize the limits to which the human body can go.

You can see Quique Peinado’s full interview with Carolina Marin in El Vestuario here.

It was very impressive for me to see your working team from the inside, because the analysis of opponents is done at a very crazy level. I saw things there like analyzing opponents’ gestures. Depending on who the opponent is, your coach told you: “Shout more with this one, shout less with this one.” Some levels I couldn’t believe. Where do these people come from?

They are Spaniards, they did not go abroad, they are Spaniards.

The point is that two things come together: an amazing team and an athlete who can move forward. Your coach says this is not fair to any athlete.

Really, Not everyone does this and not every athlete can withstand the harshness of my coach. I discussed this with him many times, and we ended up working together for 17 years. This is a long time. He caught me when I was 14 years old. Are 17 years together with a very tough and very strict person. He’s had a lot of athletes on his hands over the years and he can’t stand them as long as I have.. If true, then I, on the other hand, also know that I have the best coach in the world. So I wouldn’t risk breaking off relations with him and looking for another coach. Because I know that everything will be completely different. First of all because Asian trainers have a different methodology and another thought. And he, using the methodology that led Asians to become the best, we had to develop our own way. Because we’ve always said this: If we took the methodology of the best, that is, the Asians, we would always be behind.

. They are the best at this, so we have developed a completely different way to overcome this Asian methodology. And it is very clear to me that despite all the hardships and everything that I still have to endure, both physically and mentally, at the end of the day, well, look at the reward that I have achieved with all the titles that I have.

But dude, did you ever send her to pick it up?

Yes, sure. This is between you and me and between all people, yes (laughs).

Once? A lot of? By the way?

Yes, it is quite. That is, in the end, We have been in a relationship for 17 years. So, we have our pros and cons.. I’m already 30 years old, so it’s not like the 14-year-old girl who came and said yes to everything. I already have my own life, I also have… Let me explain: this is a sport, yes, but I also have other things to devote time to, etc. Previously, it was only sport. In fact, there was a time when I made a 200% choice in favor of sports, leaving my studies aside. To this day, I do this because I don’t have a minute a day to devote myself to anything else. But it’s also about having complete trust in him, because I know that he wants the best from me and brings out the best in me.

At what point, on one of the days that you remember, did you want to tell this person: “Leave me alone”?

There were many moments.

Tell me something because I believe people won’t evaluate your relationship unless you give some concrete example.

Look, there are a lot of workouts where He pushes me beyond limits. The limit is here because it takes me beyond the limit. So I finish my workout and he probably doesn’t even congratulate me on finishing that hard workout.. Maybe he’ll just leave and tell me, “See you later.” And I kind of get angry and say: “Fuck, mama’s boy.”. I also know that my coach is a very tough person, in the sense that what I tell you, he gets the best out of you. AND Many times he really spoiled me in training.. Or maybe Imagine that on this day I had my period or I didn’t sleep at all. Then my trainer will squeeze you too. Because in a match, for example the final of the Olympic Games in Rio, I didn’t sleep at all that night. I slept for two hours. And you still have to perform and give your best on the court.

Of course, you’ve already trained him, right?

Of course, I know that I make the most of myself in every situation. And there many times I tell him: “leave me alone” or “leave me alone.” But yesI hold back and think about it a lot and say, “Okay, he’s doing this because he wants to get the best out of you.” So, I kind of on the one hand want to tell him to get some fresh air, but on the other hand I stop and think about it and say, “Okay, it’s because you have this dream, this goal and you have to go fight.” for that.” “.

Of course, but he told me about the training you were doing and it was very strange, but very strange. Divide it like a plane into grids and you have to play all the time. That is, some things… you saw yourself doing something that at some point you said, “But what am I doing?”

Well I also have to tell you that I I’m a bit of a lab rat in the sense that I I know they went through a lot of training with me.

Literally, the word “experience” is correct.

Yes, yes, of course this is correct, because I also often joke with them that today is the time to experiment or something like that. And it was so because They couldn’t do this kind of training with anyone because at first you can’t stand it.. And also because if you suggest this to another person, they might say to you, “Hey, look, I’m not going to put up with that level of suffering.” But I never said this, that is, I never questioned every one of the things that was offered to me.

And on the first day they explain it to you like: “Look, we conducted an investigation and saw,” you tie your (legs) up and go play?

Well, the first day, if I remember correctly, was dedicated to preparing for the Rio 2016 Games, and they said to me, “Hey, look, today we’re going to do this kind of training where they’re going to cut off your circulation. , you will have to wear it for a certain amount of time and make a lot of frills. Multiflyers is that my coach on the other side of the court throws flywheels all over the court like crazy. And I have to move with it. When I put it on for the first time and it swelled up and I saw that my legs were starting to turn black, I said, well, I can’t even move, I can’t walk. How will I move along the route? It seemed crazy to me. Well, I did it.And that’s what helped me recover very well in Rio.. And from there, for example, because of a knee injury, I often wore a tourniquet to help me tone the muscle. In other words, we’ve already used it for many things, sometimes even for restoration.

Your longest relationship is with your coach.

Yes Yes.

He is a person who starts training with you when you are still a girl, you share many hours, many revelations, many feelings and many moments of great tension and very difficult ones. I believe that if you don’t love each other, if you don’t have a relationship of affection, friendship… It’s impossible. It’s impossible to do.

This is impossible, this is impossible. Here’s what I’m telling you: we have a coach-player relationship, but it’s a 17-year relationship. We have our pros and cons. We conflict because we have two strong personalities. I respect him very much obviously, since he is my leader, he is the tallest figure in our team. But yes, if there is no that love… because Often I need a hug, or he needs a hug too because of his personal situations, and here we are. The team exists for both good and bad.

What did you give him for his birthday, for example?

Well, let’s see, do you know what’s going on? Very often, when he has a birthday, which is usually in October, we are not together. So maybe I’ll go compete for two weeks or so and not see him for three weeks or a month.

What has he given you or what have you given him lately other than for his birthday? Do you give each other gifts?

Sometimes yes. Not every year, but sometimes yes. Many times, for example, it coincided that we were at the tournament itself and, perhaps, I would have bought him some part. But I have to tell you, for example, that last year I didn’t give him anything. I think we were at a tournament and I just congratulated him. We went out to dinner with the physiotherapist and others. We hosted a dinner for his birthday and maybe bought him candles to blow out. But something like this… (thinks) Look, he gave me something so that when we finish training or a game, we don’t give high fives like that (makes a gesture). We hold each other’s pinkies. So, this gesture, he gave it to me on a keychain to put on one of the bracelets that I had before.

And now I put it on my necklace, it’s our personal thing, it’s like our usual greeting.since I was little and I have worn it with great love.

And when you retire, what kind of relationships do you think you’ll have?

I will be grateful to him, despite how hard it was for him with me and that he pushed me and continues to push me to the maximum. The point is that love will remain. Sometimes I killed him, I tell you that too. Just like he killed me many times. We have been together for many years, there have been many disagreements, many circumstances and many things, but the love is still here. So, the day I retire because I think a few things could happen. Or that we will work together, that we will open an academy together, or that friendship will continue to exist, affection. That is, I am very grateful to my coach.