CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Curling could not have a more fitting host city for the upcoming Olympics than Cortina d’Ampezzo.
The town in the Dolomites is home to Italy’s first curling gold medalist, defending mixed doubles champion Stefania Constantini. And Mayor Gianluca Lorenzi is a former member of Italy’s national team — and the son of the sport’s founding father in Italy.
“I’m certainly going to have a reserved seat for every day of the competition,” Lorenzi said in a recent interview with The Associated Press, inferring that he would rather be at the curling venue than welcoming the various heads of state and VIPs expected in Cortina during the games.
Add in that the venue to be used for curling at the Feb. 6-22 Milan Cortina Winter Games will be the wooden arena that hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1956 Olympics in Cortina and was also used for a scene in the James Bond film “For Your Eyes Only,” and it’s clear that spectators are in for something special.
“In Cortina, everybody (has) tried curling at least once,” Constantini said.
Constantini’s mother, Monica Dalus, is a member of Cortina’s city council.
“Whenever Stefi is competing, we message each other to keep track of her,” the mayor said of Dalus.
Flag bearer
Constantini’s status makes her a logical choice to be one of Italy’s unprecedented four flag bearers for the part of the opening ceremony that will be held in Cortina.
Only she doesn’t see it that way. Because at 26, Constantini is still relatively young for a curler.
“I’m still at the start of my career and I’ve got many more goals that I want to achieve. There are many athletes who are further along in their careers, who have already won a ton and provided Italy with amazing emotions. So maybe they deserve this great honor,” Constantini told the AP.
Still, that hasn’t stopped Italian media from speculating that Constantini and Amos Mosaner, her winning mixed doubles partner from the 2022 Beijing Games, will get the honor.
While the main opening ceremony is slated for the San Siro soccer stadium in Milan on Feb. 6, there will also be a smaller event that Friday evening in Cortina, which will also host women’s Alpine skiing and sliding events during the games. And the International Olympic Committee has authorized Italy to have a total of four flag bearers — two in Milan and two in Cortina with one man and one woman in each location.
“Of course, it would be a huge honor,” Constantini said. “But we haven’t heard anything yet.”
Saleswoman
Right up until her and Mosaner’s golden performance in Beijing, Constantini also had a very typical day job in downtown Cortina.
She was a saleswoman in The North Face store on the pedestrian-only Corso Italia — a job she kept until a month before the Beijing Games.
“I had a double life back then,” Constantini said. “While I was working in the store, I was also working on qualifying for the Olympics.”
World title
The victory with Mosaner made Constantini become Cortina’s first Olympic champion since bobsledder Eugenio Monti swept the two-man and four-man titles at the 1968 Grenoble Games.
Cortina’s controversial sliding center is named for Monti.
Constantini and Mosaner then added to their status as the pairing to beat in mixed when they defeated Scotland — the country where curling originated — in the final of this year’s world championships.
“Competing at home in Cortina,” Constantini said, “will be the cherry on top of the cake.”
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Andrew Dampf is at https://x.com/AndrewDampf
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
By ANDREW DAMPF
AP Sports Writer
