The first of 544 matches played with the national team (an absolute record) dates back to 1998, when she made her debut winning against Brazil. And it is in Carioca land that the Italian tosser will play in the fifth Olympic Games of her career, and try again to step on the most prestigious of podiums. As part of the Italian national team she played and won practically every competition, whereas at club level her career is associated mostly with Bergamo, though she also played in Turkey, with the Galatasaray first and then with Fenerbahce. She won an important challenge also outside the field when she recovered without consequences form a small operation to remove a breast tumour which was diagnosed in 2011.