Olivia Dunne, the new gymnastics princess prey to her success: 20 years, millions of followers and fear of fans

A three-year-old girl who took up gymnastics “because she wanted a bright pink leotard” is today, turning 20 last October, an exceptional college athlete and, above all, a shining star in that vaporous universe of social networks . A Olivia Paige Dunn The latter quality has helped her earn more than two million dollars in income, but has also put her in unusual and uncomfortable situations in her discipline.

Dunne, born in the district of hillsdalein New Jersey, and who call his friends and followers Livioattends the third year of the Bachelor’s Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies at the Louisiana State University (LSU) and is one of 19 gymnasts in the tigers, the team of the house of studies that has graduated, among others, the former basketball player Shaquille O’Neal and Armand Duplantis, holder of the world record in pole vaulting. He records his best performances on the uneven bars (he has a score of 9.925 obtained for the first time at Auburn in February 2021) and also stands out on the platform (9.9 in February 2022 at Alabama).

Since first joining the Eastern National Academy gymnasium in Paramus, a district near Hillsdale, Dunne has progressed steadily, competing in junior state, regional, and national championships until he made the U.S. junior team in March 2017. A few months later, while a sophomore at Abeka Academy, he accepted a full athletic scholarship from LSU to study there beginning in 2020 and also to represent their LSU team. gym.

In 2018 he made his debut in the senior team in a tournament held in Jesolo (Italy). That year she was 17th on uneven bars, 19th on floor exercise, 20th on beam and 18th on all-around at the US National Championship, in which Simone Biles was champion in those four events and also in the colt. In 2021, in her freshman year of collegiate competition, she was named to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Southeast Conference Academic Honor Roll and was selected as a Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association All-American, a national distinction that recognizes academic and athletic achievements, and which he also received in 2022.

But beyond all this, the most powerful recognition that Livio these days comes from his presence on social media: he has 3 million followers on Instagram and 6.8 million on TikTok. On the latter platform, his last 69 videos, posted over the past four months, each have more than 2 million views. Some far exceed that figure and not all are related to their sporting activity.

They were 35.5 million users those who have seen a clip where you can see the end of an uneven bars routine. Meanwhile, a video in which the gymnast paints her lips in front of a mirror in a bathroom was played 20.3 million times, to the delight of The truethe French cosmetic company with which it has a commercial agreement.

L’Oreal is not the only brand that has seen it as an attractive figure to promote its products and services. Spotify, American eagle (Clothes and accessories), grubhub (food delivery) e you want (sportswear) has also bet on Dunne, who revealed last November in an interview with the New York Times that he had “Seven-figure” earnings. for those contracts. Some came to calculate that income at $2.5 million.

The gymnast, who joined WME Sports, the agency that represents stars like Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams or Luka Doncicwas able to monetize his face and body because in July 2021 a ruling by the United States Supreme Court forced the NCAA to allow college athletes, historically considered amateurs, to sign agreements to exploit their name, image and its appearance (known as NOTHING).

Overexposure, a boomerang

So far, all smiles for Dunne. However, their overexposure in the networks has become a boomerangs in recent weeks and has become a nuisance to her sporting career, despite not competing these days due to a shoulder injury.

On Friday, January 6, at the NCAA Gymnastics Championship season opener, a accident absolutely atypical in this kind of competition that took place outside the Jon M. Huntsman Center, the Salt Lake City stadium where the LSU team had to face their peers from the University of Utah: dozens of teenagers crowded there with posters and even a life-size cardstock image of Dunne. What were they doing there? They asked for the departure of the athlete, who was inside the building accompanying his companions.

They did it loudly, which forced them to momentarily stop the competition. “We love Livvy! Give us Livvy”they shouted. Former Olympic representative Samantha Peszek, who is now a gymnastics test commentator on ESPN, shared a video on her Twitter account of hers in which fervent fans were seen. “This is really alarming, unsettling Y creeping. I’m ashamed for them,” she complained.

“They have become part of the environment. They took attention away from what was happening on the track. I think the intensity level was a little disconcerting,” said Jay Clark, head coach of the LSU team, who believed the incident was not due “to Olivia or social media” but rather to the fact that “some people feel entitled to behave inappropriately”.

Balancing the discomfort caused by this behavior and the need to maintain a cordial relationship with his followers, Dunne called for calm through his account of Chirping. “I will always appreciate and love your support, but if you come to a meeting I want to ask you to be respectful of other gymnasts and the gymnastics community because we are just doing our job,” she wrote.

Beyond this request for calm from the athlete, the LSU authorities have decided to strengthen the care of their team to avoid new accidents. Jay Clark explained that a security officer will accompany the delegation whenever they need to move and will be with the gymnasts in the hotels, outside the changing rooms and on the bus they will use for transfers. Furthermore, the time and space for athletes to have contact with their families and fans inside the stadiums will be limited to avoid overflows.

The first test of this new scheme was on Friday when LSU took on the University of Kentucky. ten thousand people (an unusual turnout for such an event) paid between $8 and $10 for a seat at Rupp Arena in Lexington. Only a few fans carried dedicated banners Liviobetween them one who asked her to marry him. However, there were no problems this time.

On Monday, the LSU gymnasts performed for the first time of the official season at their stadium, the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, where they received warm treatment from the crowd, unmoved by their loss to Oklahoma, the NCAA champion in charge. In the next two months they will have to compete three more times away from home before the regional finals: they will do so in Fayetteville, Auburn and Tuscaloosa. We’ll have to see how Dunne’s followers manifest themselves in those cities.