Italian national team curler Stefania Constantini grew up in Cortina d’Ampezzo, a mountain town well known for winter sports in Veneto’s southern Alps. As a little girl, she swam, played tennis, skied and even danced hip hop, but it was curling that stole her heart at age 8.

“The moment I started playing curling, a spark ignited,” the 22-year-old says. “I began to get more and more passionate, and slowly I began to let go of all other activities to be able to devote myself totally to this sport.”