Giorgia Villa

Giorgia Villa (born 23 February 2003) is an Italian artistic gymnast and was a member of the historic team that won bronze at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. Individually, she is the 2018 Italian national champion, the 2018 Youth Olympic Champion, and the 2018 European Junior Champion. She is also a member of the Italian National Team.

Giorgia Villa
Villa at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games
Personal information
Full name	Giorgia Villa
Country represented	Italy
Born	(2003-02-23) February 23, 2003 Ponte San Pietro, Italy
Residence	Brescia, Italy
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior International Elite
Years on national team	2015 – present (ITA)
Gym	Brixia
Head coach(es)	Enrico Casella
Music	"That Man/Sing, Sing, Sing" (2017–2018)
Medal record Representing  Italy World Championships 2019 Stuttgart Team Youth Olympic Games 2018 Buenos Aires All-Around 2018 Buenos Aires Vault 2018 Buenos Aires Floor Exercise 2018 Buenos Aires Uneven Bars

Early life

Villa was born in Ponte San Pietro, Italy in 2003.[1] She started gymnastics when she was 4. In 2010 she moved to Brescia to train at the International Academy of Brixia, the same gym Vanessa Ferrari trained at.[2]

Gymnastics career

Junior

2015 – 2017

Villa made her international debut at the 2015 City of Jesolo Trophy as part of Italy's Young Dreams team alongside Asia and Alice D'Amato.[3]

In 2017 Villa competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy. During her floor exercise routine she tore her achilles tendon and was unable to finish the competition.[4] Villa later competed at the Italian National Championships where she placed first on uneven bars, the only event she competed on.[5]

2018

Villa competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy in April. Italy placed first in the team competition and individually Villa placed second in the all-around behind Vladislava Urazova of Russia, and fourth on vault and uneven bars.[6] Villa competed at the 2018 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships alongside Asia D'Amato, Alice D'Amato, Alessia Federici, and Elisa Iorio where Italy won team gold. Individually Villa won all-around and balance beam gold (ahead of Amelie Morgan of Great Britain), and vault and floor exercise silver, behind teammate Asia D'Amato and Romanian Ioana Stanciulescu respectively.[7][8]

She was later selected to represent Italy at the 2018 Youth Olympics taking place in Buenos Aires, Argentina.[9] 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 of Ukraine), and seventh on balance beam.[10] 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 inception that was not from Russia.[11] She continued her strong performances into the event finals, winning gold on vault and floor exercise, ahead of Csenge Bácskay of Hungary and Morgan respectively, silver on uneven bars behind Russian Ksenia Klimenko, and finishing fourth on balance beam.[12][13] Villa was selected as Italy's flag bearer for the closing ceremony.[14]

Vault qualifications

Uneven bars Final

Balance Beam Final

Floor Exercise Final

Villa at the 2018 Youth Olympics

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 Alice D'Amato.[15] 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.[16] It was later revealed that she broke her finger and would therefore have limited training leading up to the 2019 European Championships in April.[17] In late March Villa competed at the 2nd Italian Serie A, but she only competed on uneven bars where she recorded the highest score.[18]

Villa competing at the 2019 European Championships

In April Villa was officially named to the team to compete at the 2019 European Championships alongside Iorio and the D'Amato twins.[19] 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.[20] 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.[21] In August Villa competed at the Heerenveen 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.[22][23] On September 4 Villa was named to the team to compete at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany alongside Alice D'Amato, Asia D'Amato, Elisa Iorio, and Desirée Carofiglio.[24]

During qualifications 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 in Tokyo. Individually she qualified to the all-around final in twelfth place.[25] 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. 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.[26] During the all-around Villa finished in sixteenth place after falling off of the balance beam. She received the fourth highest score on vault behind Simone Biles of the United States, Aline Friess of France, and Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland and the fifth highest score on uneven bars behind Nina Derwael of Belgium, Elisabeth Seitz of Germany, Biles, and Tang Xijing of China.[27]

2020

In January it was announced that Villa would represent Italy at the American Cup in March 2020.[28] The following month it was announced that Villa would also represent Italy at the Tokyo World Cup taking place on April 4.[29] 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.[30]

Competitive history

Junior

Villa (left) on the uneven bars podium at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
2015	3rd Italian Serie A
	City of Jesolo Trophy		15
	4th Italian Serie A
2016	1st Italian Serie A
	2nd Italian Serie A		11
	City of Jesolo Trophy		6		4		6
	3rd Italian Serie A
	4th Italian Serie A		10
	Italian Junior Friendly
	Italian Championships
	Tournoi International
2017	1st Italian Serie A
	International Gymnix			4		8	4
	City of Jesolo Trophy		27
	Italian Championships
	4th Italian Serie A
2018	1st Italian Serie A
	International Gymnix		5		4		4
	City of Jesolo Trophy			4	4		7
	2nd Italian Serie A
	3rd Italian Serie A
	Italian Championships
	Pieve di Soligo Friendly
	European Championships				5
	Youth Olympic Games					4

Senior

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
2019	1st Italian Serie A
	2nd Italian Serie A
	European Championships		6			8
	3rd Italian Serie A
	Heerenveen Friendly
	Italian Championships
	World Championships		16
2020	1st Italian Serie A
	American Cup		7

References

1. "L'Italia junior femminile vince l'oro e fa la storia". federginnastica (in Italian). August 3, 2018.
2. "Giorgia Villa erede di Vanessa: tricolore a 15 anni". Bresciaoggi (in Italian). August 7, 2018.
3. "2015 City of Jesolo Trophy Final Results". The Gymterent. March 28, 2015.
4. "Ginnastica, Trofeo di Jesolo 2018: Italia da sballo, vittoria delle juniores! Giorgia Villa seconda per un decimo". OA Sport (in Italian). April 14, 2018.
5. "2017 Italian Championships Results". The Gymternet. September 2, 2017.
6. "2018 City of Jesolo Trophy Results". The Gymternet. April 19, 2018.
7. "2018 European Championships Results". The Gymterent. August 6, 2018.
8. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-08-04. Retrieved 2018-09-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
9. "The Youth Olympic Games Roster". The Gymternet. September 25, 2018.
10. "Ginnastica, Olimpiadi Giovanili 2018: Giorgia Villa firma il poker, finale alla trave! Seconda nel generale, ora caccia agli ori". OA Sport (in Italian). October 10, 2018.
11. "Ginnastica, Giorgia Villa: una Fata magica col cuore da Campionessa Olimpica. Un leoncino da coccolare, stagione dominata e il futuro". OA Sport (in Italian). October 13, 2018.
12. "Olimpiadi juniores di Buenos Aires, oro e argento per la ginnasta Giorgia Villa". la Repubblica (in Italian). October 14, 2018.
13. "Ginnastica, Olimpiadi Giovanili 2018: Giorgia Villa chiude col botto, Campionessa al corpo libero! Tris di ori, ora si vola tra le grandi". OA Sport (in Italian). October 16, 2018.
14. "YOG, Giorgia Villa portabandiera azzurra nella cerimonia di chiusura". Italian National Olympic Committee (in Italian).
15. "Ginnastica, Serie A1 2019 – Tutti i podi individuali di giornata a Busto Arsizio. Le migliori sono state". OA Sport (in Italian). February 24, 2019.
16. "Ginnastica, come sta Giorgia Villa dopo l'infortunio? Niente Trofeo di Jesolo: problemi a un dito ma c'è ottimismo". OA Sport (in Italian). March 2, 2019.
17. "Ginnastica Artistica, Enrico Casella: "Giorgia Villa non potrà appoggiare le mani per venti giorni. Penalizzata per gli Europei"". OA Sport (in Italian). March 5, 2019.
18. "Ginnastica artistica, Serie A 2019: Brixia straripante a Padova, Villa e le Fate da urlo. Lara Mori super, ok Ferlito. Ora gli Europei". OA Sport (in Italian). March 30, 2019.
19. "Ginnastica artistica, Europei 2019: le convocate dell'Italia, quattro Fate volano a Stettino. C'è Giorgia Villa". OA Sport (in Italian). April 4, 2019.
20. "Ginnastica artistica, Europei 2019: l'Italia sbanca Stettino, 3 Finali di Specialità. Villa prima alla trave, festa per le gemelle d'Amato". OA Sport (in Italian). April 11, 2019.
21. "Ginnastica, Serie A1 2019 – Tutti i podi individuali di giornata a Firenze. Le migliori sono state…". OA Sport (in Italian). May 4, 2019.
22. "2019 Heerenveen Friendly Results". The Gymternet. August 31, 2019.
23. "Ginnastica artistica, l'Italia vince l'amichevole in Olanda: 165.8 punti, azzurre giganti verso i Mondiali. Giorgia Villa show". OA Sport (in Italian). August 31, 2019.
24. "Mondiali Stoccarda 2019: Tutti i convocati!". Ginnasticando (in Italian). September 4, 2019.
25. "Ginnastica, Mondiali 2019: Italia senza finali di specialità, azzurre avanti con la squadra. Villa e Iorio in finale all-around". OASport (in Italian). October 6, 2019.
26. "Ginnastica artistica, ITALIA: SEI LEGGENDARIA! Bronzo mitologico nella gara a squadre, impresa della vita. Fate da antologia". OASport (in Italian). October 8, 2019.
27. balancebeamsituation (2019-10-10). "Live from Worlds – Women's All-Around Final". The Balance Beam Situation. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
28. @GinnasticaIta (January 8, 2020). "Giorgia Villa in Coppa del Mondo a Milwaukee! Sarà lei la prima a lottare per un pass in più! Forza Gio" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
29. "Simone Biles heads star-studded field for Tokyo World Cup". International Gymnastics Federation. February 14, 2020.
30. @FIG_media (March 17, 2020). "Japan Gymnastics Association has decided to cancel the #Tokyo All-Around World Cup that was scheduled on 4-5 April 2020" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

External links

• Giorgia Villa at the International Gymnastics Federation