“not Dunne yet!” In July last year, those three words made a special appearance in Olivia Dunne’s social media post. Just before the Paris Olympics, she announced her fifth-year return to the LSU Tigers Gymnastics. She ended the 2024 college gymnastics season on a high note, winning the national gymnastics title. It was the first time in the Tigers’ history. Also, it could have been a fitting goodbye for Olivia to end her college gymnastics career with a national title in her resume. But the New Jersey native deferred. In July, she accepted the offer and returned to LSU to complete her fifth year, the extended one. However, her mother sees her return in a different light. 

Katherine Dunne, a key factor behind Livvy’s gymnastics development, believes her daughter’s return to LSU opens new possibilities. In her interaction with The Tribune, the loving mother claimed, “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,” she clarified. 

Talking about recognition, women’s gymnastics at the college level lacks that element. Even budding gymnasts don’t have a serious source of earning money during their collegiate years. In the top 40 of the NIL list, Olivia Dunne’s sole presence supports that claim. Furthermore, the absence of a proper career after the collegiate years has made the issue far more threatening. The issue ultimately made the LSU coach say something in the docuseries, ‘The Money Game.’

Serving his fifth year at the helm, coach Jay Clark rightly knows about the pressure points in women’s gymnastics at the college level. He also knows the advantages athletes in other sports, like football and basketball, receive after their collegiate years. The stark contrast between the situations led him to say, “For our sport, there’s no NBA, there’s no NFL. There’s no opportunity for these kids, after they complete their collegiate career, to go on and to do it professionally.” According to Katherine, Livvy’s mom, the situation might change after the 2024 season, and her daughter will have a role in it. 

But apart from being the super senior and a notable performer, does the 22-year-old have any special feature to turn the eyes to college gymnastics? Katherine says her daughter has, and it is her unwavering reach in social media. How? “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,” the matriarch of the Dunne family said. She has all the reasons to boast!

Right now, Olivia Dunne is in the seventh rank in the NIL list of college athletes, published by On3.com. Her NIL value is standing at $4.2 million. Her rank and NIL value may look bad compared to the standout names coming from football and basketball backgrounds. But Olivia’s social media reach is still at the top. She has a massive following of 5.4 million on Instagram, 8.1 million on TikTok, and 159K on X. In her fifth year, those numbers might set new milestones. Also, the sport she engages in might reach every corner to earn the publicity it needs. It seems Katherine Dunne thinks in that way. But what about Livvy’s own mindset that made her return to the program for the extended year? 

Olivia Dunne has a specific plan to carry on in the ‘platform’

While announcing her fifth-year return, Olivia Dunne made a few things clear in her video July 8th post on Instagram. In the post, the 22-year-old claimed, “There’s something about putting on a purple and gold leotard. There’s something about competing in front of 13,000 screaming Tiger fans.” In her previous four years, the gymnast witnessed unprecedented popularity among the fans. The numbers in her social media followers list seal the reality of it. Surely, the LSU Tigers Gymnastics has a role to play in it and Olivia admitted that fact. 

In her video post, the social media star said, “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.” But doesn’t she have a responsibility now to make a payback to the community that made her famous? And Olivia isn’t ignoring that!

She wants to utilize the Livvy Fund she set up in 2023, collaborating with Bayou Traditions. In her interaction with Flau’jae Johnson in September 2024, Livvy said, “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.” During her first year at LSU, she was introduced to NIL deals. Now, she helps others in the same realm. In her fifth year, Olivia Dunne looks forward to continuing this responsibility.