Giorgia Villa was a member of the Italian bronze medal-winning team at the 2019 World Championships ©Getty Images

The Italian Gymnastics Federation has confirmed triple Youth Olympic Games gold medallist Giorgia Villa has been ruled out of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after suffering an ankle injury.

Villa suffered a sprained left ankle at the Italian National Championships in Naples, which took place on July 10 and 11.

The 18-year-old earned her third consecutive national all-around title, but became a doubt for the Olympics.

The Italian Gymnastics Federation has now confirmed Villa will not be able to compete in Tokyo.

"The findings have confirmed that I have suffered a small injury to my ankle ligament but in a few weeks I will overcame it," Villa wrote on Instagram.

"I wish a lot of good luck to all the athletes who are leaving for the Olympics, but especially my team mates.

"I’ll follow you from home and we’ll see each other again very soon."

Lara Mori has now taken Villa’s place in the individual event, while Vanessa Ferrari has now been added to Italy’s squad for the team event.


The Italian women’s gymnastics team includes Martina Maggio and twin sisters Asia and Alice D'Amato.

The loss of Villa will be a blow to Italy’s hopes in the team event, after she achieved their highest scores on three of the four disciplines at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart.

The team finished behind the United States and China at the event, but their bronze was Italy’s first team medal at the World Championships since 1950.

Villa was a star of the Buenos Aires 2018 Summer Youth Olympics.

She earned all-around, vault and floor titles in the Argentinian capital city, as well as silver in the uneven bars.