Carolina's Star Is Shining

Waking up at 5am, staying on the ice from 6 to 8 and then rushing to school. This was when she was 10, and when no one forced her to do it. This is the price, but she calls it "passion," that Carolina Gillespie, the young Italian artistic ice skating star, paired with Luca Demattè, must pay to become a champion. At the age of 18, Carolina, who shares her name with the famous fellow skater Kostner, enrolled in the first year of the Bachelor of International Economics, Management and Finance at Università Bocconi, a particularly taxing commitment for her because of her grueling training schedule which takes up almost her entire day.

"I get to the rink around 9 and don't leave before 4 in the afternoon," says Carolina, whose mother is Italian and father is British. She's a member at Sesto Ice Skate, where she does "gymnastics, ice training and a short break for studying and a quick lunch." That goes for every day of the week, without counting competitions and training periods abroad which take her around the world, and is a fundamental experience for growth. "Going ahead with university is important for my future," she explains, "because after my career is over, which almost always happens before the age of 30, ice skating does not open up many different courses. But it's hard, I can't go to lectures and I have to stay organized so I don't get behind. Luckily, Luca, who is a little older than me but who also studies economics, usually gives me a hand."

Sacrifices and hard work that are made with pleasure because the results are beginning to take form, since in 2011 Carolina and Luca were placed 10th at the Juniors World Championship in South Korea, the highest Italian ranking even in the specialty, and 12th in the European Championships in the international debut as Seniors, a category in which Carolina is now committed to full time. "Soon, on 23 January, the European Championships will begin in Sheffield, then in March the World Championships will be held in Nice, where we still don't know if we will be invited to compete. The middle term objective, like for all athletes, are the Olympics, especially the games that will be held in Sochi in 2014."

Carolina began ice skating almost by chance, following due friends at the age of 7 on the historical Piranesi rink in Milan, where she lived. The two friends soon fell behind, while she continued to improve and tackled her first competitions, until she moved for family reasons to England, where her passion stayed strong. "I never had pressure at home, no one ever forced me. Even now, after years of competing, my parents are certainly not ice skating experts, even though they support me closely. It's always been a free choice. A lot of athletes are forced to practice as children, then once they reach adolescence they stop." Paired with Daniel Aggiano in England, she performed in her first international competitions, demonstrating her talent, but after four years the couple split up because after returning to Italy Daniel moved up to Senior. So she began the difficult task of looking for a new partner, and found Luca Demattè, from Trento, who moved to Milan. "I've never liked ice skating alone, with a partner I feel better, and there's the incentive of being part of a team."

After moving up to Senior, Carolina's career reached a turning point and she has even more appointments, including those that take her far from home. This is the mandatory path to pursue success: "With the first international competitions, you discover your true level and you make comparisons. It's very important to ice skate with other couples, even when training, to always get new inspiration. Last year we were in Canada for awhile and I would love to go back." The next appointment, however, is in her second home, England, "where in the future I would like to live, even if Italy is better for ice skating. In Sheffield we would like to repeat last year's result, then we'll see. There's still time to think about world championships and the Olympics."