Itās such a joy to see the genuine camaraderie among the female gymnasts, and their fans, too! We were kvelling over Team USA reclaiming gold earlier this week, and I was chuffed to see all the love silver and bronze medalists Italy and Brazil, respectively, got from yāall in the comments. Kaiser noted what a big deal it was for Brazil to place given the hustle their team had to do to get sponsors for funding. Well, it was also a BFD (to quote our President) for Italy to win a medal ā their first in artistic gymnastics since 1928! And as it turns out, a star athlete on Team Italy, Giorgia Villa, has a quintessentially Italian endorsement deal of her own: sheās sponsored by parmesan cheese. Mamma mia, how can a formaggio fund an athlete?! Sei pazzo!
Italy is ecstatic with the Team Silver win: Three years ago Italian gymnast Giorgia Villa was cruelly denied her first shot at Olympic glory when she injured her ankle less than two weeks before getting on the plane for Tokyo. On Tuesday, the 21-year-old from Brescia helped Italy to their first medal in artistic gymnastics since 1928, teaming with Angela Andreoli, Alice DāAmato, Manila Esposito and Elisa Iorio to win a historic silver behind the United States. The Italian quintet have become overnight celebrities back home, where they have been dubbed le fate dāargento (the silver fairies).
Fans discovered Villaās sponsor from pics on her socials: But Villaās profile has managed to transcend gymnastics in the days since her landmark medal thanks to a viral tweet which unearthed her endorsement deal with parmesan cheese. The images speak for themselves. Thereās Villa posing in her leotard next to a wheel of parmesan. Thereās Villa seated proudly with three wheels of parmesan, performing an aerial cartwheel over a wheel of parmesan, doing the splits on four wheels of, yep, parmesan. Thereās Villa giving a warm embrace to her ābest friendā ā you guessed it ā a wheel of parmesan. More than 20 sponsored posts across Villaās social media channels have featured her showing off wheels, blocks and bit-size packets of the hard cheese.
āBig Parmaā has deals with lots of Italian athletes: Three months before the Tokyo Olympics, Villa signed a sponsorship deal with the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium (PRC), the association which oversees production and unites all producers of the cheese. A press release hailed the partnership as āconfirming 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 nutritionā. She is not the first athlete to get in bed with Big Parma. According to the Italian marketing agency Impresa e Sport, Parmigiano Reggiano has also partnered with current world No 1 menās tennis player Jannik Sinner, former NBA point guard Nico Mannion and Paralympic swimmer Giulia Ghiretti and the fencer Matteo Neri. The association boasts that Parmesan cheese, which is made through a manufacturing process dating to the 13th century, is āsuitable for a sports dietā.
Sheās been bringing medals back to Italy for years: Villaās mother signed her up for gymnastics lessons ābefore I destroyed her whole houseā due to her high energy and activity level. āI had just started nursery school, but I immediately understood that I would love that sport with all my being,ā she said. āI left school and, still wearing my pink apron, I couldnāt wait to enter that gym and jump and run feeling free and happy.ā Since the age of 11 she has been schooled at the Italian Gymnastics Federationās International Academy of Brescia, training six days a week. Villa no doubt caught the eye of the PRCās power brokers after the 2019 world championships where she competed on all four apparatus to lead Italy to a surprise bronze, the countryās first team medal since 1950.
āConfirming 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.ā Now thatās some bold PR! But hey, like they say, you canāt run a marathon without parmesan cheeseā¦ And I guess Iām the big fool if it didnāt occur to me before now that Italy would have a powerful cheese mafia. Er, mi scusi, not a mafia, I meant to say a āconsortium ā¦ which oversees production and unites all producersā of parmesan. At least Big Parma (and Bravo to the author for that pun-tacular turn of phrase) is putting their power to good use, supporting their athletes. Villa comes across as a force that simply could not be denied in her sport. And she had glowing things to say about watching Simone Biles perform this week: āSimone is from another planet. Seeing her vault and all her acrobatics from so close up is a unique privilege.ā May these two gymnastic goddesses have a meeting soon, say over wine and cheese? (Scusa, non scusa.)
A cheesy moment
This is hilarious I can’t wait to see comments about this š¤£ š
This is the best sponsorship and promotional campaign. I want to take photos with a wheel of parmesan cheese too šš
*Immediately Googles adult gymnastics classes*
Try adults acrobatics or circus classes. So fun!
Big Parma ā ļø
I love these kinds of stories that only seem to come out during the Olympics.
I have now watched them women’s and mens team events and I’ve started the mens all around competition. These athletes are amazing to watch perform and the camaraderie is lovely to see too. I’m really enjoying the other stories we’re getting from the Olympics too from this to Steve and his pommel horse/skill with a rubik’s cube.
I vote for coverage of the Turkish guy with his pistol too. The tweets/meme’s about him are brilliant.
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This is so Italian in a really positive way .
And as an Italian in France, while this country is full if amazing cheese, I am sorry but for me Parmigiano winds hands down.
Always!
As an Italian in the UK, parmesan wins over any sort of British cheese too!!
I enjoyed reading this entire article, had a huge grin on my face the entire time.
Thank you Kismet! Celebitchy writers really are the best.
Oh to be sponsored by Big Parma! And it looks like Giorgia had so much fun doing cĢ¶aĢ¶rĢ¶tĢ¶ cheese wheels!
I’m so envious, as all that our institution gets is outside/third party funds for e.g. clinical trials from, yup, Big Pharma.
Can we get that snack size in the US? I’d be all over that.
I was checking that out as well! All we get are snack size cheddar, mozzarella, and whatever the laughing cow ‘cheese’ is.
I never realized that parmesan is so versatile and tasty until I bought a chunk and grated it myself. So much difference. I’ve always used the plastic containers before.
My husband asked if I would do a photoshoot with cheese, (being a cheese lover and all) and I said “As long as I get to take the cheese home!”
Ahh, to be sponsored by cheese – that’s the dream right there. For me, it seems to work the other way around. š
I, too, would love to be sponsored by cheese. Any cheese.
I love cheese, lol