Giorgia Villa, born in 2003, is considered the golden girl of Italian gymnastics.
At the Paris Olympics, Villa, along with Alice D'Amato, Angela Andreoli, Elisa Iorio and Manila Esposito, won the silver medal in the women's all-around team event on July 30. This is Italy's first silver medal in women's gymnastics at the Olympics in 96 years.
A day after bringing home the historic medal, Villa attracted even more attention when her promotion photos for cheese company Parmigiano Reggiano from 2021 were reposted on social media.
They have been widely shared by the media and each has received thousands of likes on her Instagram page.
In the photos, Villa posed with large wheels of cheese while doing gymnastics moves. She praised the cheese company for supporting her at an important moment in her career.
Villa missed out on her Olympic debut three years ago after injuring her ankle during training. The incident happened just two weeks before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Three months before the 2020 Olympics, Villa signed a sponsorship deal with Parmigiano Reggiano.
The cheese company beat out many sports brands to reach an agreement with Villa. However, the injury kept Villa at home, meaning Parmigiano Reggiano's marketing plan at that time failed.
However, Parmigiano Reggiano did not leave Villa. The two continued their deal and the 21-year-old athlete did not let the Bologna-based cheese company down by resharing the photoshoot right after she won the historic silver medal.
Daily Mail commented on the photo shoot: "Who needs a medal when you can have cheese?"
The Guardian wrote: "Cheesy pictures. Villa's parmesan photos take the Olympics by storm."
Villa has been practicing gymnastics since she was 11 years old. Since then, she has trained six days a week.
In 2018, Villa participated in the Youth Olympics and became the first non-Russian athlete to win the women's all-around gold medal.
In 2019, Villa debuted at the Italia national gymnastics championship.
In the same year, she made her debut for Italy at the European Championship. She finished sixth in the women's all-around final and then won bronze at the World Championship.
Villa is the Italian all-around champion in 2018, 2020 and 2021. In 2022, she won gold at the European Championship and became widely known. Standing at 1.65 m tall, Villa is also admired for her beautiful appearance.
At the 2024 Olympics, Villa continued contributing to the silver medal win in the all-around team event for Italy. Their performance was only one point behind the U.S., with legend Simone Biles in the lineup.
