Asia D'Amato
Asia D'Amato () (born 7 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 and she competed at the 2020 Olympic Games. Individually she is the 2021 World vault silver medalist, the 2019 and 2020 Italian national champion, and the 2018 European Junior Vault Champion. She is also a member of the Italian National Team and is the twin sister of Alice D'Amato. Early life. D'Amato and her twin sister, Alice, were born in Genoa, Italy on 7 February 2003. She and her  sister began gymnastics at the age of 7 at the Andrea Doria Sports Club in Genoa, Italy. They currently train at the International Academy of Brixia in Brescia. In December 2020, Alice and Asia received the Athlete of the Year award in the Liguria region of Italy. Gymnastics career. Junior. 2015 - 2017. D'Amato made her international debut at the 2015 City of Jesolo Trophy as part of Italy's Young Dreams team alongside Giorgia Villa. In 2017 D'Amato competed at the Italian National Championships where she placed first on vault, second on floor exercise, and third on uneven bars. She  later competed at the 2017 European Youth Olympic Festival alongside Elisa Iorio and Alice D'Amato. There she helped Italy win silver behind Russia. Individually she placed second in the all-around behind Ksenia Klimenko of Russia, third on vault behind Valeria Saifulina of Russia and Denisa Golgotă of Romania, third on uneven bars behind Iorio and Klimenko, and second on balance beam behind Klimenko. 2018. D'Amato competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy in April where Italy placed first in the team competition. She continued her national and international dominance on vault, winning gold at International Gymnix, all Italian Serie  A competitions, and at the Youth Olympic Games Qualifier. In August D'Amato competed at the 2018 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships alongside Alice D'Amato, Alessia Federici, Elisa Iorio, and Giorgia Villa where Italy won team gold and individually D'Amato won gold on vault. Senior. 2019. In April D'Amato was officially named to the team to compete at the 2019 European Championships alongside Giorgia Villa, Elisa Iorio and Alice D'Amato. During qualifications she placed eleventh in the all-around but did not qualify to the final due to Alice D'Amato and Giorgia Villa scoring higher. She qualified to the vault  final in fourth place. During finals she once again finished in fourth, behind Maria Paseka of Russia, Coline Devillard of France, and Ellie Downie of Great Britain. In August D'Amato competed at the Heerenveen Friendly where she helped Italy win gold in the team competition ahead of the Netherlands and Norway and individually she finished fifth in the all-around behind Giorgia Villa, Eythora Thorsdottir, Naomi Visser, and Alice D'Amato. Additionally she recorded the third highest vault and balance beam scores. On September 4 D'Amato was named to the team to compete at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany  alongside her sister, Villa, Elisa Iorio, and Desirée Carofiglio. During qualifications at the World Championships D'Amato helped Italy qualify to the team final in eighth place; as a result Italy also qualified to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. She scored high enough to become the second reserve for the all-around final but did not due to teammates Villa and Iorio scoring higher than her. In the team final, D'Amato helped Italy win the bronze medal – Italy's first team medal since the 1950 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. They ended up finishing behind the United States and Russia but  ahead of China, who originally qualified to the final in second place. 2020. In late January it was announced that D'Amato would compete at the Stuttgart World Cup taking place in March. The Stuttgart World Cup was later canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. In November D'Amato competed at the Italian National Championships where she tied for first with Giorgia Villa. During event finals she won gold on vault, bronze on the uneven bars (behind Villa and Martina Maggio) and on balance beam (behind Maggio and Villa), and silver on floor exercise once again behind Villa. 2021. D'Amato  was named to the team to represent Italy at the 2020 Summer Olympics alongside Alice D'Amato, Giorgia Villa (later replaced by Vanessa Ferrari), and Martina Maggio. The team qualified for the team finals and placed fourth with a total score of 163.638. In October D'Amato was selected to compete at the 2021 World Championships. While there she qualified to the all-around and vault finals, becoming the first Italian female gymnast to qualify to the latter. During the vault final she performed a Yurchenko double and a half on full twist. She won the silver medal behind reigning Olympic vault  champion Rebeca Andrade. This was Italy's first World medal on vault in women's artistic gymnastics. 2022. D'Amato competed at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge. Her scores on vault, uneven bars, and balance beam contributed towards Italy's second-place finish. Individually D'Amato won silver on vault. D'Amato next competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy. She helped Italy finish second as a team and individually placed second in the all-around behind Konnor McClain. During event finals she finished second on vault behind Coline Devillard, fifth on balance beam, and sixth on uneven bars.