Curling has a strong connection with Cortina, the co-host of the Winter Olympics

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy – Curling couldn’t have a more fitting host city for the next Olympics than Cortina d’Ampezzo.

The city in the Dolomites is home to Italy’s first curling gold medalist, defending mixed doubles champion Stefania Constanti. And Mayor Gianluca Lorenzi is a former member of Italy’s national team – and the son of the founding father of the sport in Italy.

“I’m definitely going to have a specific set for each day of competition,” Lorenzi said in a recent interview with The Associated Press, speculating that he’d rather be at the curling venue than welcoming the various heads and VIPs expected in Cortina during the Games.

Add to that the venue used for curling at the February 6-22 Milan Cortina Winter Games will be the wooden rink that hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1956 Olympics in Cortina and was also used for a scene from the James Bond film “For Your Eyes Only,” and that’s clearly a special treat for spectators.

“In Cortina, everyone (someone) has tried curling at least once,” Constantine said.

Constantino’s mother, Monica Dulce, is a member of Cortina’s city council.

“Whenever Steffy is competing, we text each other to keep her updated,” Meyer said of Dulles.

Constantine’s status makes him a logical choice to be one of Italy’s unprecedented four flag bearers for part of the opening ceremony to be held in Cortina.

Only she doesn’t see it that way. Because at 26, Constantine is still relatively young for a curler.

“I’m still at the beginning of my career and I’ve got many more goals that I want to achieve. There are many players who are progressing in their careers, who have already won a ton and have given Italy great emotions. That’s why they deserve this great honor,” Constantino told the AP.

Still, that hasn’t stopped Italian media from speculating that Constantino and Amos Mossner, his winning mixed doubles partner from the 2022 Beijing Games, will take the honors.

While the main opening ceremony is set for February 6 at the San Siro soccer stadium in Milan, there will also be a smaller event on Friday evening in Cortina, which will also host the 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 at each location.

“Of course, it would be a great honor,” Constantine said. “But we haven’t heard anything yet.”

Until his and Mossner’s golden performance in Beijing, Constantin had a very ordinary day job in the city of Cortina.

She was a saleswoman at The North Face store on pedestrian-only Corso Italia — a job she held until a month before the Beijing Games.

“I had a double life at the time,” Constantine said. “While I was working in the store, I was also working on qualifying for the Olympics.”

Victory with Mosaner made Constantin Cortina’s first Olympic champion since bobsledder Eugenio Monti won the two-man and four-man titles at the 1968 Grenoble Games.

Cortina’s controversial sliding center is named for Monte.

Constantini and Mosaner then added to their status as the ones to beat in the combine when they defeated Scotland – the country where curling originated – in the final of this year’s world championships.

“A home match in Cortina,” said Constantin, “will be the icing on the cake.”