Arianna Fontana on "amazing feeling" as short track's most decorated skater, her "rock and shield" husband Anthony, and Milano-Cortina 2026

'L'Angelo Blondo' they call her in Italy - 'The Blond Angel.'

From Turin 2006 to Beijing 2022 Arianna Fontana has been lighting up short track speed skating and stacking up a serious collection of precious metal.

A second straight gold in the 500m and two silver medals in the 1500m and the mixed relay in Beijing have etched Fontana's Olympic greatness in stone.

11 Olympic medals means she blazes by other greats like Viktor An and Apolo Ohno who had eight each.

"It's pretty amazing," Fontana tells Olympics.com in Beijing.

When I got here in Beijing I was tied with Victor An and Apolo Ohno, two icons of my discipline, so just already to be there tied with them was pretty big for me.

"When I was a kid I always looked up to them. An was here with the Chinese team and when I won my first medal, he was one of the first one to come and congratulate me, he was pretty amazing.

"Getting the compliment from him was a big thing, and also after my gold, he hugged me and that was great. So it means a lot to have the respect from such a great athlete."

The 500m final was a thriller in Beijing.

Fontana lined up against 2021 five-time world champ Suzanne Schulting and world-record holder Kim Boutin.

"It started with a fall," tells Fontana, "which reminded me of the final in Sochi in 2014 where we fell after half a lap and we didn't get a chance to fight for a gold medal.

"So when I fell my first time, I thought... Not again, please. But then I heard the referee's whistle and I was like, OK, I got this, just stay focussed. Don't freak out.

"I got my blades checked, my coach was like, you're good, go crush it.

"Suzanne was really aggressive at the start. She wanted to start in the front, so I let her go. I didn't want to fight her again