Italian gymnast Giorgia Villa goes viral during Olympics for brand deal with cheese

Silver medalist Giorgia Villa from Italy has had one of the most unique brand deals among 2024 Paris Olympics athletes, and she’s going viral for it.

Villa, who was a part of Italy’s runner-up finish behind the United States in the women’s gymnastics team competition, was sponsored by Parmesan. Yes, literally Parmigiano Reggiano.

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While it’s unclear if she’s still sponsored by cheese, Villa went viral on Wednesday when an account on X, formerly known as Twitter, shared pictures of Villa posing with large wheels of cheese in 2021. She hasn’t posted any advertisement content for the company since 2022.

While it seems she’s no longer sponsored by Parmesan, it still gave the masses some of the most amusing brand content by an athlete out there. The first batch of pictures shared of Villa with the cheese has garnered over 11 million impressions on X as of Wednesday night.

The 21-year-old is in her first Olympic Games, although she qualified for the Tokyo Olympics but was held out of the competition after spraining her ankle just days before her first trip. On Monday, she helped lead Italy to its first team medal in women’s gymnastics since 1928.

Here’s a look at Villa’s experience with Parmigiano Reggiano, which has the silver medalist gymnast trending on the interweb:

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Giorgia Villa sponsored by Parmesan cheese

Here’s some of the best social media posts regarding Villa’s former brand deal with literal cheese:

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY Sports: Italy’s Giorgia Villa goes viral for parmesan cheese brand deal