Olivia Dunne is reaping the rich fruits of her social media antics. Back in the day, gymnastics was considered to be a dead sport. With each passing day, the interest in the sport began to decline. And with that, viewership and live TV coverage started to plummet. Making things worse, when lockdown hit, the scenario looked quite grim for gymnastics. And this is where Olivia Dunne stepped in with her gymnastics game. She started to post regular content on her TikTok, and soon, people began to take a liking to her videos. 

Within months, Dunne became a huge social media sensation, and now, she has a gigantic following on the internet. At the moment, Dunne’s TikTok stands at 8.1 million followers, while her Instagram and X boast of a whopping 5.4 million and 159k followers. Such huge numbers have made her skyrocket to being the highest-paid female athlete in the NCAA realm. Valued at $4.2 million, Dunne is among the top 10 highest-paid athletes according to NIL deals. 

While Olivia Dunne’s social media presence has brought much-needed attention to NCAA gymnastics, it has also attracted some criticism. Some detractors argue that her success off the mat overshadows her athletic performance, with a few questioning whether her influence is more about her looks and online persona than her gymnastics skills. But there’s positive undertones to that as well.

While initially, Dunne’s social media tryst felt like a playtime stint, it is now helping the sport find its footing significantly. Making a complete revival, most of the NCAA gymnastics events will be televised this year either on ESPN or on the ABC network. Adding to the excitement, NBC’s live daytime coverage of the women’s team final in Paris garnered a whopping 12.7 million viewers on average. This was huge, as the numbers were higher than what the 2024 NBA Finals or the 2024 NFL first round garnered!

Elated with the positive response, Olivia Dunne’s mother, Katherine Dunne, feels that her daughter has a lot to do with the change in momentum. Speaking to The Salt Lake Tribune, Katherine stated, “When Olivia started social media, she always wanted to try to bring more eyeballs to the sport of college gymnastics. It’s really gratifying for her to see the appetite for it grow and the audience grow more and more each year.” 

She also mentioned that Olivia Dunne’s coming back to LSU this year will also be pivotal to keep the interest intact for the viewers. She said, “I think it’s an important moment for women’s gymnastics.” Why, so you may ask? “I think coming off of an Olympic year, there’s extra enthusiasm for the sport, and I think it will continue to give it the recognition that these women deserve.” 

Thus, it is quite evident that Olivia Dunne is surely playing a key role in the uplifting of women’s gymnastics in the NCAA realm. Meanwhile, the young gymnast is focused on getting her performance on point this season. What’s more? She also has big plans for the overall development of the game in the future. 

Olivia Dunne reflects on future plans 

Olivia Dunne will have her work cut out for her this year. With star performer Haleigh Bryant out due to injury, the onus will be on Dunne to help her team replicate their last year’s success. And Dunne is pretty much eager to don the LSU leotard too! After all, she does want to shrug off the ‘undeserving’ tag from the previous year. In a July 8, 2024, post on Instagram, Dunne opened up about her emotions with LSU. “There’s something about putting on a purple and gold leotard. There’s something about competing in front of 13,000 screaming Tiger fans… And no matter how many opportunities come my way off the mat, there’s just something about LSU. And that’s why I’m here to say I’m not Dunne yet,” said Dunne. 

And that’s not all. While her NCAA stint will come to a close this season, Dunne will be staying around to help the young gymnasts blossom in the sport. And all these will be done throughout her Livvy Fund, set up back in 2023, while in collaboration with Bayou Traditions. Commenting on her future plans for the budding buds, Dunne, in a September 2024 interaction with Flau’jae Johnson, stated, “I really hope to get as many women student athletes on board as I can. I want to continue to elevate women’s sports as a whole because they really deserve the same publicity as the men’s. We do equal work; we put in equal time in our facilities every day and in school, so I feel like it would be right for this to be equal.” Thus, with things looking quite bright, both Olivia Dunne and the NCAA will hope the growing wave of enthusiasm will continue, taking the sport to new heights in the future.