Looking sharp: Italian gymnastics silver medalist sponsored by Parmesan cheese

LONDON -- Giorgia Villa might be the most "grateful" athlete on the face of the planet.

And no, it isn't just because the newly minted Italian silver medalist helped Team Italy score their first Olympic team medal in gymnastics since 1928. Villa is sponsored by cheese.

Having also won the bronze at the 2019 World Championships as well as being on gold-winning teams at the 2022 Mediterranean Games and the 2022 European Championships, she has actually been sponsored by Parmagiano Reggiano since 2021, a three-year period where she has matured as an athlete to become one of the best gymnasts in the world.

"A new face is added, as a testimonial, to the prestigious team of Parmigiano Reggiano: The young gymnast Giorgia Villa, 2018 champion of the Youth Games and one of the most promising athletes in her specialty at an international level," Impresa e Sport, an Italian marketing agency said in 2021 when they first announced the sponsorship deal.

"The very young athlete, spearhead of the national rhythmic gymnastics team, has in fact become the brand's new ambassador, with all the enthusiasm and freshness of her splendid age. Tenacious, determined, smiling, Giorgia proudly underlined this new role as well as once again confirming how the combination of Parmigiano Reggiano and the world of sport is indissoluble in terms of authenticity, quality and energetic value, both in sporting activity and in correct nutrition," the statement read.

Villa first started in gymnastics at the age of 3 when her mother signed her up for gymnastics lessons due to her high energy and activity level.

"I had just started nursery school, but I immediately understood that I would love that sport with all my being," said Villa. "I left school and, still wearing my pink apron, I couldn't wait to enter that gym and jump and run feeling free and happy."

Now 21, Villa has been training at the Italian Gymnastics Federation's International Academy of Brescia, Italy, since she was just 11 years old.

"Every single day has been a personal achievement. There have been many sacrifices that I have had to face, but I have received a lot of satisfaction which time after time has given me the energy needed to face future challenges that lay ahead of me," said Villa in an interview in 2022. "I am a person who loves to show what she can do, and then achieving important results is incomparable to any sacrifice."

"I love gymnastics so much because it allows me to always be in motion," Villa continued. "It is also a wonderful method to let off steam and release all the energy I have in my body, to always be in a group and in company even if gymnastics is fundamentally still an individual sport. I also love the fact that it pushes me to try to overcome my limits by improving every single skill."

Fast forward to 2024 and Villa can be seen across social media taking pictures with the massive wheels of cheese that are produced exclusively in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna to the west of the Reno River, and Mantua to the east of the Po River, according to the cheesemaker.

"Since I was a child I have always loved this fantastic product, a symbol of Italian excellence and culture, and from today being able to collaborate with them makes me extremely proud and charged to face future challenges," Villa said at the time of her sponsorship announcement.

While the cheese sponsorship might be a bonus, Villa has always been honest about her goals within the sport of gymnastics and, when asked whether the Olympic Games were always her goal and if she considered quitting during difficult moments in her career, Villa was firm in her opinion and didn't crumble.

"The biggest objective is the Olympics, for me and I think all of us," she said. "This [medal] paid [us] back for the injuries and hard moments that we lived over the years."