“There’s something about competing in front of 13,000 screaming Tiger fans,” wrote Olivia Dunne in July, as she failed to separate herself from gymnastics despite reaching the pinnacle. As the 21-year-old athlete helped LSU clinch their first-ever national championship title earlier this year, she was at crossroads: To stay or to leave?

On one hand, Livvy had reached her “end goal” albeit through multiple injuries—shoulder pain, torn labrums, shin splints, shin pain, stress fractures, broken ankles— and moved back to her native New Jersey after finishing her senior year. On the other, she had another year of eligibility remaining. So, when the young gymnast sat down for an interview with The New York Post in late-June, there were a lot of answers people wanted to know: Was she retiring from LSU Tigers? Would she try for the Olympic Games now?

Drawing a deep breath, the 21-year-old had said, “So I do have eligibility for a fifth year, which I haven’t decided yet.” As for her future on the world’s biggest stage, there was no going back, which she revealed in another interview: “That[Olympic] dream has died. I got hurt when I think I was about 15-16 years old, my bone had died in my ankle and it fractured, so I kind of realized this is not for me anymore.” 

During her time at Louisiana—where she was recruited three years before she even went to college—Dunne achieved a career-high of 9.90 on the floor this year and 9.925 on the bars in 2022. She was made the SEC Honor Roll three times (2022, 2023, 2024) and was a WCGA All-American in 2021.

But, as she reached a decision and informed of her return to LSU for a final season, there were more questions that took shape. What is Olivia Dunne going to do after her final season? The young phenom recently contemplated…

In a video released September 28 by LSU Tiger TV, the highest-paid NCAA female athlete said, “I don’t think I’ll ever be a gymnastics coach because I did try that before and I wasn’t very good at it (laughing).”

But she did not rule out the possibility of breaking her ties with LSU permanently. Expressing her gratitude towards the institution, the NCAA gymnastic icon opined, “I think I’ll do something in the NIL realm or something with LSU in the future because I do love the school and I wouldn’t have what I have today if it wasn’t for them.” Now, while it will be a sad moment for everyone once her season comes to an end, Dunne will forever be etched in LSU’s history.

However, even for a superstar such as Livvy Dunne, the pangs of separation are a stark reality. Following her final year at LSU, fans will miss watching the 21-year-old twist and turn on the bars and on the mat. Now, the big question is, what will Dunne do post the conclusion of her remarkable NCAA chapter? Well,

And while she is not doing all these, Dunne can be found managing her daunting NIL empire. With a mammoth TikTok (8.1 million) and Instagram (5.3 million) following, Dunne has been one of the faces of NIL in the NCAA realm. Her valuation at the moment stands at $4 million, and Livvy Dunne certainly wants to expand her business empire further. However, all of these wouldn’t have been possible if she let her inner quitter take control during her hard times.

Olivia Dunne wanted to quit gymnastics

Since 2021, Olivia Dunne has received the SEC’s academic honor roll every year. Yet, coming into the 2022-23 season, things took a turn for the worse. Plagued with injuries, Dunne had a couple of torn labrums, a stress reaction on her legs, and a torn bicep. These injuries kept her season at bay, making his miss out on 7 of the 16 events that year. Sitting out of the action, Dunne’s negative thoughts started to grasp her thinking. She looked at the LSU lineup without her. And there were names like Kiya McClain, Konnor McClain, Haleigh Bryant, and Aleah Finnegan. 

These names further escalated the negative thoughts within Dunne. Considering quitting the sport altogether, Dunne spoke about her intentions in ‘The Money Game’, saying, “At practice every day I look around, and I’m like, ‘everyone’s so good.” Fortunately, the very teammates that she wanted to run away from, pushed Dunne in the training to perform better. Using her talents as an ace, coach Jay Clark and the entire LSU unit backed their prized athlete to emerge as a gymnastics giant soon.