World champ Kostner considering quitting

Italy's figure-skating world champion Carolina Kostner has said she is considering quitting the sport. "I've devoted all of myself to this sport for 10 years, I've sacrificed friends and affection and sweated for every single victory," the 25-year-old, who won gold at the World Championships in Nice in March, told weekly magazine Gente. "Now that I've had the satisfaction of climbing onto the world's highest stage, I'm happy and I might choose to resume my (normal) life. "It's a tough decision and I want to take a few more weeks to reflect," added the four-time European champion, whose boyfriend is Italy's 50km-walk Olympic champion Alex Schwazer. "I'd like to teach, to develop the champions of the future. Then I'd like to finish my university studies. I like painting, I plan to draw a cartoon for a musical and I've been creating the designs for my competition costumes for a year. "Then I have a dream, which is to devote myself full-time to the theatre and opera". Kostner has appeared in a number of ice-dancing shows, including Opera on Ice at Verona's ancient Roman Arena last year.