Carolina María Marín Martín (born 15 June 1993) is a Spanish badminton player. She is an
Olympic Champion, three-time
World Champion, and eight-time European Champion. She once held the No. 1
BWF World Ranking
The BWF World Ranking is the official ranking of the Badminton World Federation for badminton players who participate in tournaments sanctioned by Badminton World Federation. It is used to determine the qualification for the BWF World Championships ...
in women's singles for a total of 66 weeks.
She has won the World Championships in
2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
,
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
, and
2018
Events January
* January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency.
* January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
, becoming the second women's singles player after
Han Aiping to win the title three times.
Marín is the only player in history to win at least seven gold medals in a single discipline of any continental championship (individual events), having won every
European Championships title since
2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
, and a
European Games title in
2023
Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...
.
She also won the Olympic gold medal in women's singles at the
2016 Rio Olympics, thereby becoming the only non-Asian female player to win a badminton gold medal at the
Olympics.
Marín was appointed as the brand ambassador of football major
LaLiga and
Meliá Hotels International for its promotion in other countries. In 2024, Marín was awarded the
Princess of Asturias Award for Sports.
Early life
Marín was a keen
flamenco
Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...
dancer in her childhood. After a friend introduced her to badminton, she fell in love with the sport and decided to stop dancing and play badminton wholeheartedly. At the age of eight, she started playing badminton at the IES La Orden in
Huelva. She had to leave her hometown and her family at a very young age to travel all the way to Madrid for training at the National Centre.
Career
2009–2012: First international title and European Junior Champions

In 2009, she became the first Spanish badminton player to win a silver medal first, at the
European Junior Championships, and also in the same year, won the gold medal at the
European U-17 Junior Championships.
She won her first major title at the
Irish International tournament coming through the qualification stage and beating the Dutch player
Rachel Van Cutsen in the final in the rubber game.
In 2011, she alongside her teammate,
Beatriz Corrales, made history for the Spanish badminton, after placing two representatives of Spain in the final at the continental
European Junior Championships held in Vantaa, Finland, and Marín grabbed the gold medal.
She also competed at the
World Junior Championships in Taipei, reaching the semi-finals, but lost to Elisabeth Purwaningtyas of Indonesia and settled for the bronze medal.
2012 London Olympics
she attended her first ever Olympics and lost in the round robin to Li Xue Rui 21-13 21-11
2013–2014: First Grand Prix title, European and World Champions
In 2013, she became the first Spanish badminton player to win a Grand Prix Gold title after winning the
London Grand Prix Gold.
In August, Marín played for the Bangalore-based team Banga Beats in the inaugural edition of the
Indian Badminton League (IBL). In April, she won her first
European Championships title.

On 31 August 2014, she defeated
Li Xuerui of China in the
World Championships women's singles final and became the first Spaniard to win a World Championship title and the third European female player to achieve the gold medal, after
Lene Køppen (1977) and
Camilla Martin (1999).
At the age of 21, she became the youngest European that won the World Championships ever.
2015: Five Superseries title, second World Championships and World #1
In 2015, she won the
All England Open, her first Superseries Premier title in her first Superseries Premier final after defeating
Saina Nehwal in the final with score 16–21, 21–14, 21–7.
The title propelled her to rank number 4 in the world ranking and, for the first time, no. 1 in the Superseries standing. At
India Open, she had the chance to unseat
Li Xuerui as the new world no. 1, however, she narrowly lost to Thai prodigy
Ratchanok Intanon
Ratchanok Intanon (, , ; born 5 February 1995) is a Thai badminton player who became the first Thai to become No.1 in women's singles. She is known for her relaxed hitting motion and light footwork, which has been described as 'balletic' by com ...
in a close three games at the semi-finals stage.
She rose to a career-high as world no. 2 in the world ranking on 2 April.
On 5 April, Marín won her second straight Superseries Premier title, beating Olympic champion
Li Xuerui for the second consecutive time at the
2015 Malaysia Open with a score of 19–21, 21–19, 21–17. In August, she defended her title at the
World Championship
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...
by beating
Saina Nehwal of India in 21–16, 21–19.
2015 was the golden year for Marín, where in addition to defending the World Championships title, she also won other Superseries titles such as the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
,
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
,
and
Hong Kong Open.
2016: Olympics gold
In August, she represented her
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
at the
Rio Olympics. She arrived at Rio as the number one seed and won a gold medal by beating India's
P. V. Sindhu in the
women's singles final with a score of 19–21, 21–12, 21–15. She made history by becoming the first non-Asian to win the Olympic badminton women's singles gold medal.
An indoor arena in Huelva is named after her honour, with Marín herself attending the inauguration.
2017–2018: Fourth European and Third World Championships title
In 2017, Marín won the
Japan Open Superseries title after beating
He Bingjiao of China in the final, winning a Superseries title after almost two years.
At the
Hong Kong Open, which took place in late November, Marín retired to
Michelle Li
Michelle Li (born November 3, 1991) is a Canadian badminton player. Li is the 2014 Commonwealth Games champion and the first Canadian to win an individual gold medal in women's singles badminton at the Commonwealth Games. She has won gold in bo ...
, losing 21–19, 13–21, 8–11, due to a hip injury that she sustained during the match. Marín later announced on Twitter and Instagram that, due to her hip injury, she would not be participating in the season-ending
Dubai World Superseries Finals.
On 29 April 2018, she won her fourth consecutive
European Championships title in her home soil Huelva, Spain, by beating
Evgeniya Kosetskaya with a score of 21–15, 21–7 in the final.
On 5 August, she won the title in the
World Championships by defeating
P. V. Sindhu of India in straight games 21–19, 21–10, making her the first female player in history to win three World Championships titles.
In September, she won World Tour titles at the
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
and
China Open.
2019–2020: ACL injury and comeback
Marín began her 2019 season with a runner-up effort at the
Malaysia Masters, where she lost to
Ratchanok Intanon
Ratchanok Intanon (, , ; born 5 February 1995) is a Thai badminton player who became the first Thai to become No.1 in women's singles. She is known for her relaxed hitting motion and light footwork, which has been described as 'balletic' by com ...
in straight games.
On 27 January, Marín suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury during the
Indonesia Masters final against
Saina Nehwal, when she was 10–3 ahead in the first games. Marín subsequently retired from the match and underwent ACL reconstruction surgery the same day as soon as she arrived back in Madrid.
She had a four-month recovery, dedicating ten hours a day to physical and technical rehabilitation, with morning and afternoon
physiotherapy
Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...
sessions, and swimming pool work.
In September, after an eight-month break forced by the injury, Marín returned to competition at the
2019 Vietnam Open but suffered an opening-round defeat to
Supanida Katethong.
However, she rebounded and won the
China Open on 22 September, defeating
Tai Tzu-ying in the finals with a score of 14–21, 21–17, 21–18.
This was Marín's first title of the season, which she followed with the semi-finals at the
Denmark Open, where she was defeated in three tight games by
Nozomi Okuhara. She reached the final of the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
next week, where she was defeated by Korean youngster
An Se-young in three games 21–16, 18–21, 5–21. Her achievements in the last three tournaments succeeded in bringing her back into the world top 10 of BWF women's singles ranking.
She further won
Syed Modi and
Italian International tournaments later in the year.
Marín started the 2020 season at the Southeast Asian tour on a positive note; reaching the semi-finals of
Malaysia Masters where she lost to
Chen Yufei. A week later, she then reached the final of the
Indonesia Masters, where she narrowly missed the title after getting defeated from
Ratchanok Intanon
Ratchanok Intanon (, , ; born 5 February 1995) is a Thai badminton player who became the first Thai to become No.1 in women's singles. She is known for her relaxed hitting motion and light footwork, which has been described as 'balletic' by com ...
in three games 19–21, 21–11, 18–21.
She continued her good form and thereafter reached the semi-finals of
Thailand Masters
The Thailand Masters was a professional snooker tournament. Previously known as Asian Open and Thailand Open, it was a Snooker world rankings, ranking tournament from 1989/90 to 2001/02. An event called the ''Thailand Masters'' also formed part o ...
, which she lost to top seed
Akane Yamaguchi in a close rubber game.
In February, she reached the final of her home event
Barcelona Spain Masters, where she lost in an upset to rising Thai star
Pornpawee Chochuwong in the rubber games 21–11, 16–21, 18–21.
In March, she competed as 8th seeds in the
All England Open, but stopped by the eventual champion
Tai Tzu-ying in the semi-finals.
In July, Marín's father died following an accident in February. She reached the final of the Denmark Open in October for the very first time but was defeated by Okuhara in straight games.
2021–2022: Sixth European Championships title
Marín won the first title of the year, the
Thailand Open Super 1000 event, by beating World no. 1
Tai Tzu-ying in two comfortable games. She didn't lose any game in the whole tournament.
Continuing her scintillating form, she won the second edition of Thailand Open, the
Toyota Thailand Open, also a super 1000 event by beating Tai yet again.
In contesting her first-ever
World Tour Finals final, she lost to same rival Tai in three games after failing to capitalize her lead in the final game.
She won her first world tour title in Switzerland by beating reigning World champion
P. V. Sindhu with a very dominating display, winning 21–12, 21–5.
Marín planned to compete at the
All England Open but pulled out of the competition due to an injury she suffered in the first round of the Swiss Open.
Marín made history as the first-ever player to claim five consecutive titles at the
European Championships, defeating young Dane
Line Christophersen in the final.
She was expected to defend her title at the
2020 Tokyo Olympics but was forced to withdraw due to knee injury she suffered in June while training.
In 2022, 11 months after Marín second ACL injury, she won her sixth
European Championships title.
Her best result in the 2022 BWF World Tour was reaching the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
final, but lost the match to
He Bingjiao in a close rubber games.
2023: Silver medals at World Championships and World Tour Finals, return to top 5
Marín began 2023 at the
Malaysia Open, the first Super 1000 event of the year, reaching the quarter-finals before losing to
Chen Yufei in two close games.
She repeated this result at the
India Open, falling to
Akane Yamaguchi in three games.
At the
Indonesia Masters, Marín reached her first final in nearly two years. She faced world number two
An Se-young in a three-game match lasting 80 minutes, ultimately losing.
In March, Marín reached the quarter-finals of
All England Open Championship but withdrew due to injury, giving An Se-young a walkover.
She returned home for the
Spain Masters, reaching the semi-finals before being defeated by
Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in three games.
Marín claimed her first title in over two years at the
Orléans Masters, a Super 300 event, after defeating
Beiwen Zhang in a three-game final.
In June, Marín faced world number one An Se-young in the
Thailand Open semi-finals, losing in straight games.
The
Singapore Open marked the first time in 2023 that she failed to reach a tournament quarter-finals as she lost to
Supanida Katethong in the second round.
However, She rebounded at the
Indonesia Open, a Super 1000 event, defeating
Goh Jin Wei,
Yeo Jia Min,
Tai Tzu-ying, and
Ratchanok Intanon
Ratchanok Intanon (, , ; born 5 February 1995) is a Thai badminton player who became the first Thai to become No.1 in women's singles. She is known for her relaxed hitting motion and light footwork, which has been described as 'balletic' by com ...
to reach the final. There, she lost again to Chen Yufei with an 18–21, 19–21 scoreline, mirroring their Malaysia Open match result.
Marín capped off June by representing Spain at the
European Games, winning her first gold medal in the tournament with a straight-game victory over
Mia Blichfeldt.
Entering the
World Championships taking place in Denmark as the sixth seed, Marín exceeded expectations as she defeated top-four players Tai Tzu-ying and Akane Yamaguchi en route to her fourth World Championship final. There, she lost in straight games to top-seeded An Se-young, earning a silver medal.
In September, she reached the quarter-finals of both the
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
and
Hong Kong Opens.
In October, Marín's strong year-to-date performance saw her return to the world number five ranking. She reached the final of the
Denmark Open, with a notable quarter-finals win over Tai Tzu-ying, there she lost to Chen Yufei in straight games.
This semi-finals was marked by her tension with
P.V. Sindhu over shuttle post-rally returns and screams, resulting in yellow cards for both players; both players later publicly apologised and reconciled. At the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, Marín suffered an upset loss to
Aya Ohori in the quarter-finals.
Further results included reaching the quarter-finals of the
Japan Masters and early upset in the
China Masters to unseeded
Nguyễn Thùy Linh.
Marín's world tour ranking of number four qualified her for the $2.5-million-prized year-end
World Tour Finals. She won all her round-robin matches without dropping a game, including a notable win over Chen Yufei. After defeating Chen again in a three-game, 104-minute semi-finals, Marín reached her first-ever World Tour Finals final. She finished as runner-up after losing to Tai Tzu-ying in three games.
In 2023, she earned $257,335 in prize money, making her the year's fourteenth highest-earning badminton player.
2024: All England title, seventh European Championships title, return to top 3
Marín began 2024 by opting out of BWF tournaments in January and February, citing continued recovery from injuries. Her return to competition was at the
European Women's Team Championships as part of the
Spain's national team. Despite Marín's individual victories over
Kirsty Gilmour and
Line Kjærsfeldt in the semi-finals and finals, respectively, her team finished as runners-up in the tournament, which was by far the best result for Spain's national team.
In March, Marín experienced an early exit at the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, losing to Beiwen Zhang in the opening round.
However, she rebounded at the prestigious
All England Open. En route to the final, she had notable victories over
Wang Zhiyi, Chen Yufei, and Tai Tzu-ying. In her final match against Akane Yamaguchi, Marín secured a hard-fought victory in the first game (26–24) and was leading 11–1 in the second game when Yamaguchi retired due to injury, granting Marín her second All England title after a nine-year interval.
In the following week, Marín extended her winning streak by clinching her second title of the year, the
Swiss Open title, thus becoming the oldest women's singles player in 16 years to achieve this feat, following
Zhang Ning's triumph in
2007
2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year.
Events
January
* January 1
**Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
. In the quest for her second Swiss Open title, she defeated Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in a hard fought final, with a scoreline of 21–19, 13–21, 22–20.
In April, Marín successfully defended her
European Championships title without dropping a game throughout the whole tournament. This achievement helped Marín become the only player in badminton history to win at least seven gold medals at a single discipline (women's singles) of any continental championship, as she has won the European Championships consecutively since 2014.
With 9,200 points gained from winning the championship, Marín returned to world's no. 3 for the first time in over three years (since March 2021). In June, entering
Indonesia Open as the third seed, Marín overpowered Zhang Yiman,
Hsu Wen-chi, and
Han Yue with straight wins before losing to Chen Yufei after three games in the semi-finals.
Marín then decided to skip all the tournaments leading up to the
Olympics in order to focus on the preparations of this paramount event.
Entering the
Olympics as the fourth seed, Marín advanced effortlessly through the group stage with straight wins against unseeded players
Jenjira Stadelmann and
Rachael Darragh. In the round of 16, she defeated the ninth seed Beiwen Zhang in three games to advance to the quarter-finals, where she secured a straight-games victory over the eighth seed
Aya Ohori. At 31, Marín became the second oldest women's singles player to reach an Olympic semi-final, where she faced the sixth seed
He Bingjiao. Marín won the first game 21-14 and was leading 10-5 in the second game when she sustained a serious knee injury following a bad landing from an overhead smash, causing her to collapse.
Despite the injury, she played on with a knee brace on and conceded two more points before retiring from the match due to limited mobility. Due to the injury, Marín was unable to compete in the bronze medal match against Gregoria Mariska Tunjung.
Achievements
Olympic Games
''Women's singles''
World Championships
''Women's singles''
European Games
''Women's singles''
European Championships
''Women's singles''
BWF World Junior Championships
''Girls' singles''
European Junior Championships
''Girls' singles''
BWF World Tour (10 titles, 12 runners-up)
The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the
Badminton World Federation
The Badminton World Federation, aka BWF, is the international governing body for the sport of badminton approved by the International Olympic Committee. It was founded on 5 July 1934 as the International Badminton Federation with nine member ...
(BWF). The BWF World Tours are divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.
''Women's singles''
BWF Superseries (6 titles, 4 runners-up)
The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, was a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by the
Badminton World Federation
The Badminton World Federation, aka BWF, is the international governing body for the sport of badminton approved by the International Olympic Committee. It was founded on 5 July 1934 as the International Badminton Federation with nine member ...
(BWF). BWF Superseries levels were
Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries consisted of twelve tournaments around the world that had been introduced since 2011. Successful players were invited to the Superseries Finals, which were held at the end of each year.
''Women's singles''
:
BWF Superseries Finals tournament
:
BWF Superseries Premier tournament
:
BWF Superseries tournament
BWF Grand Prix (2 titles, 3 runners-up)
The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the
Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the
Badminton World Federation
The Badminton World Federation, aka BWF, is the international governing body for the sport of badminton approved by the International Olympic Committee. It was founded on 5 July 1934 as the International Badminton Federation with nine member ...
(BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017.
''Women's singles''
:
BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament
:
BWF Grand Prix tournament
BWF International Challenge/Series (9 titles, 5 runners-up)
''Women's singles''
:
BWF International Challenge tournament
:
BWF International Series tournament
Performance timeline
National team
* ''Senior level''
Individual competitions
* ''Junior level''
* ''Senior level''
Career overview
The table below gives the overview of Carolina Marín performance data in singles and doubles.
Record against selected opponents
Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of
24 November 2024.
Books
*with Fernando Rivas: ''Gana el partido de tu vida''. Editorial Planeta, 2016
*''#Puedo porque pienso que puedo''. Harper Collins, 2020
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
Carolina Marínat the
Paris 2024 Summer Olympics
Carolina María Marín – COE – Paris 2024
*
Carolina Marín – Season 1– Prime Video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marin, Carolina
1993 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Huelva
Spanish female badminton players
Badminton players at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics
Badminton players at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Badminton players at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Badminton players at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Olympic badminton players for Spain
Olympic gold medalists for Spain
Olympic medalists in badminton
Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Badminton players at the 2023 European Games
European Games gold medalists for Spain
European Games medalists in badminton
World No. 1 badminton players
Saint Anthony Catholic University of Murcia alumni
21st-century Spanish sportswomen