Olympic Medallist Carolina Marin Announces Retirement From Professional Badminton

Rio 2016 Olympic badminton gold medallist Carolina Marin on Thursday announced her retirement at the age of 32 from reliable badminton, bringing the curtain down on a excellent profession.

Marin shared the news thru a social media video, confirming she is going to skip the upcoming European Championships in her plot of birth, Huelva. The 32-year-outmoded bought a wild-card entry for the European Badminton Championships 2026, plot for six-12 April in Huelva.

“My journey ends here. Thank you all, because you, too, have been part of it. In this new adventure, I will carry with me the values that have accompanied me until now, and I will try to give back to society everything it has given me during this time. It has been a wonderful journey,” Carolina Marin wrote in an X submit.

“I wanted us to see each other one last time on court, but I don’t want to put my body at risk for that,” said Marin. “I’ve said it many times, and I stand by my decision. I wanted my career to end in a different way, but in life, things don’t always happen as we want, and we have to accept that.”

European Badminton Championships 2026 used to be plot to designate her comeback, since struggling a knee wretchedness within the course of the semi-final round of the Olympic Video games Paris 2024 larger than a year and a half ago.

“Deep down, I did retire on a court — in Paris 2024 — we just didn’t know it at the time,” Marin said in her farewell video.

“I wanted the journey to end in Huelva, and it will. Not with a racket in my hand, but in the city where I was born, to close a circle spanning many years,” she explained.

“I will be there to give back all the energy you’ve given me over all this time and to experience an unforgettable week, because that girl who discovered badminton and wanted to win everything is now happy and returning home. I leave with my passion feeling very proud of everything I have achieved — more than the titles, for having earned the respect of the sporting world both on and off the court, and for helping badminton to be recognised, seen, and played in my country. I couldn’t ask for anything more,” she concluded.

She suffered her first critical wretchedness in 2019, and in Might presumably presumably 2021, neutral two months earlier than the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Video games, she tore the cruciate ligament and meniscus in her left knee. Three years later, at the Paris 2024 Video games, she sustained a third shatter, from which she has but to recover.

Marin leaves late an unprecedented legacy, alongside side an Olympic gold medal, three World Championship titles, and a couple of European crowns.