‘Reina’ is Spanish for queen, and that is exactly what she is. A successful Olympic tournament for Carolina Marin, culminates in a gold medal around her neck. She had many medals – but this one she has never won before, and if she wants to win it again, she must wait four years. That is what makes the Olympic Games special and unique, and why athletes spend years and years preparing. So has Marin, and today she was rewarded for her hard work with a 19/21, 21/12, 21/15-victory.
Her opponent, was not one of the top 3-seeds Chinese, but 9th seed P.V. Sindhu of India. Her higher seeded countrywoman Saina Nehwal [5] was expected to be a great candidate for a final, to exceed her bronze in London 2012. But an injury gave her trouble and she did not make through the group play.
But Sindhu has played a great tournament, beating Japanese Nozomi Okuhara [6] in two sets in the semi, and deserves the recognition of Olympic silver. More importantly, the two finalists are historically not Chinese, proving the point that Women’s singles have started to broaden all over the world.
The first set of the match was extremely close, and both Marin and Sindhu made roaring yells when winning a point, as if this was in fact an Olympic tournament in who can yell the most.
And for the first time in Rio, Marin loses a set, 19/21. But that did not break her, and the world champion two years in a row fought back and took the second set 21/12.
The crowd was on fire, both from the two previous men’s singles, but also got more and more ecstatic by the finalists’ cries.
But in the end, there was not much that Sindhu could do to stop the fast-track train that is Carolina Marin. She takes the third set 21/15 and could fall to her knees, crying of happiness by her amazing achievement – the first Spaniard and European to win an Olympic gold medal in women’s singles.