Italian gymnast posing with wheels of cheese is the Olympic hero the internet needed
Natalie Stechyson | CBC News | Posted: August 1, 2024 2:20 PM | Last Updated: August 1
Giorgia Villa is sponsored by Parmigiano Reggiano. Her cheesy photos have taken the internet by storm
Sure, she won a silver medal.
But that's not the reason Italian gymnast Giorgia Villa is the internet's new darling.
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.
"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.
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