Giorgia Villa (born 23 February 2003) is an Italian

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

. She was a member of the historic team that won bronze at the 2019 World Championships in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, and was part of the gold-winning team at both the 2022 Mediterranean Games and the 2022 European Championships. Individually, she is the 2018, 2020, and 2021 Italian national champion, the 2018 Youth Olympic champion, and the 2018 European junior all-around and beam champion. She is also a member of the

Italian national team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

Early life

Giorgia Villa was born in

Ponte San Pietro Ponte San Pietro (Bergamasque: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Bergamo, Lombardy, northern Italy. It is about northeast of Milan and about west of Bergamo. Sights include the Villa Mapelli Mozzi. Geography Ponte San Pietro is built on ...

, Italy on February 23, 2003. She started gymnastics when she was four. In 2010 she moved to

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

to train at the International Academy of Brixia, the same gym

Vanessa Ferrari Vanessa Ferrari (born 10 November 1990) is an Italian Artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast. She was the 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, 2006 World All-Around Champion and competed for Italy at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2008, 2012 Su ...

trained at.

Gymnastics career

Junior

2015–2017

Villa made her international debut at the 2015

City of Jesolo Trophy The City of Jesolo Trophy is an annual women's gymnastics competition held in Jesolo, Italy. There are competitions for the senior division and junior division. The United States won the senior team competition every year from 2010 to 2017.

as part of Italy's Young Dreams team alongside

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

Alice D'Amato Alice D'Amato () (born 7 February 2003) is an Italian artistic gymnast. She represented Italy at the 2020 Olympic Games. She was a member of the teams that won bronze at the 2019 World Championships and gold at the 2022 European Championships ...

. In 2017 Villa competed at the

. During her floor exercise routine she tore her

achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus (h ...

and was unable to finish the competition. Villa later competed at the Italian National Championships where she placed first on uneven bars, the only event she competed on.

2018

Villa competed at the

in April. Italy placed first in the team competition, and individually Villa placed second in the all-around behind

Vladislava Urazova Vladislava Sergeyevna Urazova ( rus, Владислава Сергеевна Уразова, , vɫədʲɪˈsɫavə ʊˈrazəvə, born 14 August 2004) is a Russian artistic gymnast. She represented the Russian Olympic Committee at the 2020 Summe ...

of Russia, and fourth on vault and uneven bars. Villa competed at the

2018 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 32nd European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held from 2 to 5 August 2018 at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. Competition schedule Medal summary Medalists Medal table Combined Seniors ...

alongside

Asia D'Amato Asia D'Amato () (born 7 February 2003) is an Italian artistic gymnast. She represented Italy at the 2020 Olympic Games. She was a member of the teams that won bronze at the 2019 World Championships and gold at the 2022 European Championships. ...

Alessia Federici Alessia is an Italian given name, the feminine form of the male given name Alessio, the Italian form of Alexius. It is a popular name for females in Italy and was the second most popular name for Italian girls born in 2006. The name may mean ...

, and

Elisa Iorio Elisa Iorio (born 21 March 2003) is an Italian artistic gymnast and was a member of the team who won the bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart. Iorio also won gold at the 2018 European Junior Championships where she addition ...

where Italy won team gold. Individually Villa won all-around and balance beam gold (ahead of

Amelie Morgan Amelie Morgan (born 31 May 2003) is a British artistic gymnast. She represented Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the team event. She is the 2021 European Championships bronze medalist on the uneven bars. Ad ...

of Great Britain), and vault and floor exercise silver, behind teammate Asia D'Amato and Romanian Ioana Stănciulescu respectively. She was later selected to represent Italy at the

2018 Youth Olympics The 2018 Summer Youth Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de la Juventud de 2018), officially known as the III Summer Youth Olympic Games, and commonly known as Buenos Aires 2018, were an international sports, cultural, and educational event held ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, Argentina. At the Youth Olympic Games she qualified to every event final, qualifying first on uneven bars and vault, second in the individual all-around and on floor exercise (behind

Anastasia Bachynska Anastasiia Yuriivna Bachynska ( uk, Анастасія Юріївна Бачинська, born 4 August 2003) is a retired Ukrainian artistic gymnast. She is the Gymnastics at the 2019 European Games, 2019 European Games floor exercise champion, ...

of Ukraine), and seventh on balance beam. In the all-around final she was able to win the gold medal after top qualifier Bachynksa suffered mistakes on both balance beam and floor exercise. She was also the first all-around champion since the

Youth Olympic Games The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is an international multi-sport event for athletes between 15 and 18 years old, organized by the International Olympic Committee. The games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consisten ...

inception that was not from Russia. She continued her strong performances into the event finals, winning gold on vault and floor exercise, ahead of

Csenge Bácskay Csenge Mária Bácskay (born 4 April 2003) is a Hungarian artistic gymnast and the 2018 Youth Olympic silver medalist on vault. Additionally she was a member of the team who won bronze at the 2020 European Championships. Early life Csenge ...

of Hungary and Morgan respectively, silver on uneven bars behind Russian Ksenia Klimenko, and finishing fourth on balance beam. Villa was selected as Italy's flag bearer for the closing ceremony.

Senior

2019

Villa made her senior debut at the 1st Italian Serie A competition. She finished first in the team and all-around and scored highest on balance beam and second highest on vault, behind

. She was slated to make her senior international debut at the 2019 City of Jesolo Trophy but had to withdraw at the last minute due to an injury to the middle finger of the right hand. It was later revealed that she broke her finger and would therefore have limited training leading up to the 2019 European Championships in April. In late March Villa competed at the 2nd Italian Serie A, but she only competed on uneven bars where she recorded the highest score. In April Villa was officially named to the team to compete at the 2019 European Championships alongside Iorio and the D'Amato twins. Villa qualified to the all-around final in seventh place after falling off the uneven bars and qualified to the balance beam final in first. In the all-around final she managed sixth after making mistakes on bars and floor and falling on beam, and in the balance beam final another fall took her out of medal contention. In May Villa competed at the 3rd Italian Serie A where she placed first in the all-around and on vault, uneven bars, and balance beam. In August Villa competed at the

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

Friendly where she helped Italy win gold in the team competition ahead of the Netherlands and Norway, and individually she won gold in the all-around despite falling on the uneven bars, finishing ahead of Eythora Thorsdottir. Additionally she recorded the highest balance beam score and the second highest vault and floor exercise scores. On September 4 Villa was named to the team to compete at the 2019 World Championships in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

alongside

, and

Desiree Carofiglio Desiree Carofiglio (born 11 March 2000) is an Italian artistic gymnast. She was part of the Italian team that won bronze at the 2019 World Championships. Personal life Carofiglio was born in Casarile on 11 March 2000. Gymnastics career Ju ...

. During

qualifications Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

at the World Championships Villa helped Italy qualify to the team final in eighth place; as a result Italy also qualified to the

2020 Olympic Games The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. Individually she qualified to the all-around final in twelfth place. In the team final, Villa competed on all four events to lead Italy to a surprise bronze medal – Italy's first team medal since the

1950 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 12th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Basel, the second largest city of Switzerland, on July 14-16, 1950. 20,000 spectators watched the championships, held for the first time in Switzerland, and the Swiss team was very su ...

. They ended up finishing behind the United States, winning their fifth consecutive title, and Russia but finished ahead of China, who originally qualified to the final in second place. During the

all-around The All-Around is an award given to a rodeo competitor who is most successful in two or more events. Most individual rodeos and championships determine the winner of this award at the conclusion of the other events or championships. Championship ...

Villa finished in sixteenth place after falling off of the balance beam. She received the fourth highest score on vault behind

Simone Biles Simone Arianne Biles (; born March 14, 1997) is an American artistic gymnast. Her seven Olympic medals tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals won by an American gymnast. Having won 25 World Championship medals, she is the most de ...

of the United States, Aline Friess of France, and

Giulia Steingruber Giulia Steingruber (born 24 March 1994) is a retired Swiss artistic gymnast. She is the 2016 Olympic and 2017 World bronze medalist on vault. Additionally she is the 2015 European all-around champion, a four-time European vault champion (2013 ...

of Switzerland and the fifth highest score on uneven bars behind

Nina Derwael Nina Derwael ( or ; born 26 March 2000) is a Belgian artistic gymnast. She is the 2020 Olympic champion, a two-time World champion (2018, 2019), and a two-time European champion (2017, 2018) on the uneven bars. She is the 2019 European Games ...

of Belgium, Elisabeth Seitz of Germany, Biles, and

Tang Xijing Tang Xijing (; born January 3, 2003) is a Chinese artistic gymnast. She is the 2019 World all-around silver medalist, matching Jiang Yuyuan at the 2010 World Championships for the highest all-around finish for a Chinese woman in World or Oly ...

of China.

2020

In January it was announced that Villa would represent Italy at the

American Cup The American Cup (also known as the American Football Association Cup and the American Federation Cup) was the first major U.S. soccer competition open to teams beyond a single league. It was first held in 1885. In the 1910s, it gradually dec ...

in March 2020. The following month it was announced that Villa would also represent Italy at the Tokyo World Cup taking place on April 4. At the American Cup Villa finished in seventh place after falling on the uneven bars, balance beam, and on floor exercise. The Tokyo World Cup was later canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Japan Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. In November Villa competed at the Italian National Championships. She tied for first with

after she fell on her vault. During event finals she won her fourth consecutive gold on the uneven bars, won silver on balance beam behind Martina Maggio, and gold on floor exercise.

2021

In April Villa was selected to represent Italy at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

alongside

, Martina Maggio, and

. During qualifications Villa only competed on the uneven bars and balance beam. Although she fell off the balance beam, she was able to qualify to the uneven bars event final. During the event final she finished in fourth place behind

Angelina Melnikova Angelina Romanovna Melnikova ( rus, Ангели́на Рома́новна Ме́льникова, , ɐnɡʲɪˈlʲinə ˈmʲelʲnʲɪkəvə; born 18 July 2000) is a Russian artistic gymnast. With eleven Olympic and World medals, she is the jo ...

, and

. In late June Villa competed at the Flanders International Team Challenge where she helped Italy place third. Individually she placed fifth in the all-around but won gold on balance beam and bronze on the uneven bars. Villa was named to the team to represent

Italy at the 2020 Summer Olympics Italy competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Italian athletes have appeared in every ...

alongside Alice and

and Martina Maggio. Villa won her third national all-around title in July; however she injured her ankle during floor exercise and was unable to compete at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

2022

Villa competed at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge. Her scores on uneven bars and balance beam contributed towards Italy's second-place finish. Individually she won gold on uneven bars. Villa next competed at the

. She helped Italy finish second as a team and individually placed third on the uneven bars. In June Villa competed at the

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fir ...

alongside Martina Maggio,

, and Angela Andreoli. Together they won gold in the team competition, over five points ahead of second place France. In August Villa competed at the

. She contributed scores on uneven bars and balance beam towards Italy's first place finish. During event finals Villa placed fourth and seventh on uneven bars and balance beam respectively. In October Villa competed at the Italian National Championships. She made her return to the all-around for the first time since the previous year's national championships; she placed fourth. During event finals she co-won the uneven bars title alongside Maggio and placed third on balance beam. Villa was later named to the team to compete at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in Liverpool alongside

, Martina Maggio,

Manila Esposito Manila Esposito (born 2 November 2006) is an Italian artistic gymnast. She is the 2023 European silver medalist on the balance beam and with the Italian team. She is a two-time medalist in the FIG World Cup series. Career 2022 Esposito com ...

Veronica Mandriota Veronica, Veronika, etc., may refer to: People * Veronica (name) * Saint Veronica * Saint Veronica of Syria Arts and media Comics and literature * ''Veronica'', an 1870 novel by Frances Eleanor Trollope * ''Veronica'', a 2005 novel by Mary Gaits ...

, and alternate

Competitive history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Villa, Giorgia 2003 births Living people Italian female artistic gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships European champions in gymnastics Youth Olympic gold medalists for Italy Gymnasts at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics Sportspeople from the Province of Bergamo People from Ponte San Pietro Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Italy Mediterranean Games medalists in gymnastics Gymnasts at the 2022 Mediterranean Games 21st-century Italian women