Sure, she won a silver medal.
But that’s not the reason Italian gymnast Giorgia Villa is the internet’s new darling.
Olympic silver medalist and Italian gymnast Giorgia Villa is sponsored by parmesan cheese and takes many of her photos while posing with large wheels of cheese <a href=”https://t.co/klx8PEuFPN”>pic.twitter.com/klx8PEuFPN</a>
—@womenpostingws
Villa, as social media discovered this week, is sponsored by Parmigiano Reggiano. And some older posts of her cheesy photos with wheels of parmesan have just gone viral.
While other athletes are posting sponsored pics and product placements of makeup and Invisalign, Villa is doing the splits and handstands on wheels of cheese like a boss, and hugging giant hunks of parmesan, just like we all wish we could sometimes.
“Together with my best friend,” she writes in a 2021 post.
She became the ambassador for Parmigiano Reggiano in 2021, according to a news release on Impresa Sport. On the cheese company’s Instagram, they say the cheese is “rich in proteins, suitable for sports nutrition.”
Like we needed the excuse.
In another 2021 post, Villa carves into a hunk of cheese on what appears to be the balance beam. “One of my favourite moments during the day is without a doubt the snack,” Villa wrote.
Athletes: they’re just like us!
Photographer Gabriele Seghizzi wrote on his website that he was commissioned to take shots of Villa and some of Parmigiano Reggiano’s “products” back when she was the new ambassador.
“Some of the products brought by Parmigiano Reggiano were inserted and attempts were made to reproduce pre and post sport consumption opportunities,” he wrote.
Now, fresh off her medal in Paris, those photos are going viral. Villa helped the Italian team win silver Tuesday in the all-around final, coming in second to the U.S.
Fresh off a silver medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Italy’s star gymnast Giorgia Villa has partnered with Parmigiano Reggiano. The youthful dynamo from Ponte San Pietro is now the ambassador for the iconic cheese brand, blending her athletic excellence with authentic Italian… <a href=”https://t.co/DU0vGkbRng”>pic.twitter.com/DU0vGkbRng</a>
—@HardcoreItalian
“I need the people to know that Olympic silver medalist Giorgia Villa is sponsored by parmesan cheese and regularly posts pics of herself with giant wheels of cheese,” wrote Sarah Furio on X.
“I, too, would like to be a Big Parma shill,” added Jonathan Stea.
“Giorgia Villa is really out here living all our dreams,” wrote the account Growing up Italian.
We have a new Olympic hero.
Although it looks like Medina is floating in mid-air thanks to Photoshop, this actually happened.