Constantini brings home curling gold – and her hopes for the future

When Italy’s Stefania Constantini arrived home to Malpensa Airport, Milan, her world had shifted. The curling mixed doubles gold medal winner was greeted by uniformed members of the sport section of the Italian police, TV cameras and microphones, and her boyfriend.

And that was when Constantini broke down in tears.

Domenico Dalla Santa, himself an ice hockey goaltender, gave Constantini a long embrace, a giant teddy bear and a red rose.

Della Santa was dressed in jacket and tie. Behind him, four friends in similarly smart attire held up a giant banner.

It was emblazoned with the scores of the 11 victories from 11 games recorded by Constantini and her partner Amos Mosaner. And it carried the giant slogan: “You gave us such a thrill.”

Constantini’s coach, Andrea Cardone, was also present. Cardone had to stay in Italy after testing positive for COVID-19 the day before the scheduled departure for Beijing.

“I didn’t expect all this support and it’s been fantastic," said Constantini.

"Just experiencing the Olympics is a dream. Seeing all of Italy supporting you is crazy.”

In spite of the “crazy thing we’ve done, this amazing goal we’ve achieved”, Constantini said she would remain “serious and stubborn, as my mum says”.

So much was evident as Constantini’s first thoughts turned to what Italy’s first ever medal in curling could mean for the sport.

“I think it’s an important thing for Italian curling. I hope our movement can keep growing and so keep to a minimum the training sessions with one or two people and have more and more coming along.”

Constantini recounted how she and Mosaner had revised their ambitions upwards.

“After finishing the round robins unbeaten – nine wins from nine – we really looked each other in the eyes and we said to each other, ‘This is the moment to change our objective.’

“Initially we wanted to reach the semi-finals but, given the great work we’d done, it seemed right to scale the summit and take what we deserved and that’s what we did.”

But Della Santa suspects Constantini of having loftier ambitions from the start. 

“She was expecting a medal. She told me before she left: ‘I’m going to bring back a medal.’ And she always manages to get what she wants.”

Constantini may inspire more than a wave of novice curlers.

“Obviously it spurs me to do better,” said Della Santa, Constantini’s boyfriend of seven years.

“Especially as Italy will have an ice hockey team at the next Olympics.”

That’s because the nation will host the 2026 Games.

“A home Olympics really only happens once in a lifetime,” said Constantini.

“And really it’s my home because I live in Cortina.

“Now of course I want to enjoy the medal and then get back to work and be even more prepared for Milano-Cortina.”

Constantini has returned home because the Italian women’s team did not qualify for Beijing 2022.

“Us girls are at a slightly lower level at the moment, because we are a young team so I think with this medal we can open many more paths for ourselves to grow. 

In the meantime, she will be cheering on the Italian men’s team in Beijing.

“The men’s team is very strong. They have some work to do. They had the misfortune to immediately come up against two very strong teams that could make the final.

“So stay really strong because you’re great, boys.

“I’ll be cheering for you from home. Show what you can do.”

The men will be able to watch Constantini’s homecoming on YouTube for inspiration.

At the airport, she revealed the medal from under jacket.

“It’s really beautiful," she said. "Heavy too.”

When can I watch the Italian men's team at Beijing 2022?

Italy will feature in the men's curling round robin stage every day until Thursday 17 February, when the semi-finals will also take place.

The bronze medal match is on Friday 18 February, and the gold medal match takes place on Saturday 19 February.

Keep up with all the action in our Live Blog updates throughout Beijing 2022, here.