By Andrea Buongiovanni
La Gazzetta dello Sport

Everyone’s eyes will be on her. Firstly, on Friday February 10, at the Olympic stadium, during the opening ceremony, when she will be the flag bearer for the Italian national team. Then, between Tuesday 21 and Thursday 23, on the ice of the Palavela, in the two rounds of the women’s individual figure skating when she will be looking for a prestigious result. Carolina Kostner, 19 years old just two days before the inauguration of the Torino Olympics, will go anyway and not just because she’ll be competing in Italy. She will be a personality with her fresh face, her grace, her talent, her soft eyes and those long, long legs. After the bronze in the World Championships in Moscow in 2005, and that of the European Championships at Lyon in 2006, the best Italian results in the discipline for more than 25 years, Carolina is ready to climb into heaven. As long as the pressure doesn’t stress her and the waiting doesn’t become excessive.

In the rink she must stay calm and serene. She’ll have to beat the emotion, with the awareness of having worked well and with the desire to succeed, above all, to enjoy herself. The rest, without ignoring the talent of her many adversaries, will be the consequence. In looking for the undertaking, Carolina Kostner, will be swathed in elegant costumes designed by Roberto Cavalli, and will trust in the music that has accompanied her since the beginning of the season – the sound track of the film ‘The Mission’, composed by Ennio Morricone, for the short programme and ‘Winter’ from the Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi for the free programme. The rest will have to come from the  choreographies also signed by the great Kurt Browning, the Canadian four-time world champion and his technical ability (superb triple-triple combination as a starter). The  choreographies are the result of the hours and hours of training under the guidance of Michael Huth at Oberstdorf, the German town Carolina decided to move to in 2001 to ‘grow up’. In Bayern, Carolina is in the fourth year of the senior school. She speaks five languages: Italian, German, English, French and Ladino, her local dialect.

Miss Kostner naturally has the support of her family in all this. Not only is her direct family very sport-minded but Isolde Kostner, the Italian skier, Olympic silver medallist in downhill and twice world champion in SuperG is her second cousin. Isolde, a year younger, was the Italian flag bearer in Salt Lake City in 2002. She will not be in Torino as she’s pregnant. So Carolina will represent the family. Whatever happens,  and starting with what she’s already achieved (for example, she won the first Italian medal at a junior world championship) she has a whole career ahead of her. She is shy and does not enjoy being under the spotlight. But in front of a similar jewel, how can one stay silent?