Giorgia Villa poses with a wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano. Photo: Giorgia Villa/instagram

Italian gymnast Giorgia Villa helped Team Italy earn a silver medal in the women’s team competition. But she’s gone viral for a much cheesier reason.

Photos from Villa’s old partnership with Parmigiano Reggiano have been taking over the internet. PEOPLE confirmed that the sponsorship has ended — it ran from 2021 to 2022 — but that doesn’t make the images any less amazing.

At the time, Villa posed with giant wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano in her gymnastics uniform.

“I am very happy to be part of the great @parmigianoreggiano family. Since I was a child I’ve always loved this amazing product, a symbol of excellence and Italian culture, and since today being able to collaborate with them makes me extremely proud and excited to face future challenges!” she wrote in a post announcing the partnership in April 2021.

In another set of photos, posted in November 2022, Villa is shown flipping over a wheel of the cheese on a balance beam, doing a handstand and enjoying a small packet of the cheese on a park bench. Other posts include a snap of the gymnast smiling while wrapping her arms around the Italian staple.

Although the company’s partnership has ended, Parmigiano Reggiano released a statement following Villa’s medal-winning performance on Tuesday. (The second-place win marks the country’s first team medal for women’s gymnastics since 1928.)

Gymnast Giorgia Villa flips over a wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano. Giorgia Villa/instagram

“The Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium is always thrilled when the Italian team members, especially when so young, achieve such extraordinary results, and has always been sensitive to the world of sports,” the company says in a statement to PEOPLE.

“Parmigiano Reggiano is in fact an essential food in everyone’s diet and, in particular, that of athletes, who find in it a totally natural energy boost. Made with only three ingredients (raw milk, salt and rennet), free of additives and preservatives, easily digestible and naturally lactose-free, it is a ready-to-use energy reserve before, during and after any physical effort.”

As opposed to the widely-produced parmesan cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano is a specific product protected by a PDO (Protected Destination of Origin), which means that the cheese can only be produced in the Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna and Mantua regions of Italy.

The Parmgiano Reggiano Consortium is a governing body that oversees and represents the 292 dairies operating in the area. It was founded in 1934 to help protect the cheese’s singular classification.

The cheesemakers have also partnered with several other notable Italian athletes, including no. 1 ranked tennis player Janik Sinner — who recently withdrew from the Paris Olympics due to tonsillitis.

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