Carolina Marín and Teresa Perales brought one of the most emotional interventions of the ‘Tejer Redes’ meeting at the Movistar Arena in Madrid before Pope Leo XIV this Sunday.
The Olympic badminton champion and the Paralympic swimmer closed the block of testimonies with a defense of sport as a school of life, not just as a factory of medals, records, or individual successes.
The two athletes spoke before the Pontiff about effort, fragility, respect for the opponent, and the ability to get up after falling. Their message connected with a central idea: sport is not valuable solely for victory, but for what it teaches when the body fails, the result does not come, or pressure threatens to turn the game into an obligation.
Carolina Marín defends sport as a school of life
Carolina Marín centered her intervention around a clear idea: sport, when lived with integrity, educates. It does not only train the body; it also shapes character.
The Olympic champion championed the clean joy of playing and competing against a culture increasingly obsessed with performance, money, visibility, and immediate success. Her message served as a critique of the pressure surrounding professional sport, but also of a society that often measures people's worth by their results.
Marín argued that competing does not mean destroying the rival. The opponent, she suggested, is not an enemy, but someone who forces you to grow and give your best. In this view, competition ceases to be a war and becomes a form of shared improvement.
Teresa Perales focuses on fragility and resilience
Teresa Perales brought the discourse to the realm of resilience. The Paralympic swimmer spoke of those days when the body does not respond, injuries weigh heavily, and the path becomes harder than expected.
Her message was one of the most human of the event: falling is not failing definitively, and accepting one's own fragility does not make anyone weak. On the contrary, it allows us to recognize that true victory often consists not in appearing invincible, but in learning to get up with the help of others.
In an address to Leo XIV, Perales recalled that sport also teaches to live with limits. One does not always win, one cannot always, the body does not always cooperate. But even there a different victory can appear: that of continuing, supporting oneself, and not turning vulnerability into shame.
“Good game in life,” the closing addressed to the Pope
The two athletes closed their address with a direct nod to Leo XIV: “Thank you very much, Your Holiness, and good game in life.”