Vicky Graff Photo
One of the nation’s most popular athletes was in Rupp Arena Friday night and it was not to play basketball.
LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne is a social media star and perhaps the top earning athlete in college sports. It has been estimated that her name, image and likeness earnings topped $2 million last year and she has become a social media influencer, especially on TikTok.
Her popularity soared so much that LSU had to enact new protocols at gymnastics meets and increased security to curtail disruptive fans from impacting meets.
She was in Lexington for Kentucky’s “Excite Night,” the home opener for the UK gymnastics team. She did not compete because of a shoulder injury in the meet won by UK behind another superb all-around showing by Raena Worley.
However, the injury did not stop Dunne from signing some autographs even with the increased security, waving to fans and cheering on her team.
“Livi Mania” figures to only continue to grow because her popularity increases daily on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
She’s a gifted athlete, too. She is an all-American on the uneven bars with a career-best score of 9.925 in her best event.
The junior has a big list of sponsors and is represented by WME Sports, one of the nation’s biggest sports agencies.
UK-LSU
Photos by Vicky Graff
