PARIS, AUG 4: Former champion Carolina Marin retired in floods of tears from her Paris Olympics badminton semi-final on Sunday after her right knee buckled in distressing scenes.
The Spaniard won women's singles gold at Rio 2016 and was on track to reach the final again but collapsed midway through the second game against China's He Bingjiao.
Coaches and He rushed to her side as she lay on the ground for several minutes, clutching her leg.
The 31-year-old eventually got up and walked gingerly off the court, then resumed wearing a support.
But she could barely move, losing the next two points before falling to the ground again, clearly in great pain, and sobbing uncontrollably.
With the match over, she refused the use of a wheelchair and limped out of the arena to thunderous applause from the Paris crowd, a few of whom were moved to tears by her plight.
The fourth seed had won the first game 21-14 and was leading 10-6 in the second.
Her coach, Fernando Rivas, told reporters that he had "no words to describe what happened".
"Carolina knows that at an Olympic Games, you win or you lose," he said. "But not this way."
Marin was hot favourite for the title at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago until she suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury just months before the event. It was her second ACL injury.
"She was in pain, it's a sensation that she already knew," said Rivas, suggesting she may have suffered the same serious injury again.
Marin's agonising withdrawal drew sympathy from her fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who faces Novak Djokovic in the men's tennis final on Sunday.
"All the encouragement in the world," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez also wrote: "You are and always will be a champion. All of Spain is with you."
China's He will play South Korean world number one An Se-young in the final. —AFP
