Olivia Dunne, better known as 'Livvy,' is an NIL star. Similar to Miami's Cavinder twins, Hanna and Haley, Dunne rose to stardom during the COVID-19 pandemic, posting videos of her doing gymnastics on the beach — what she calls "beach-nastics."
Ever since she committed to continue her gymnastics career at LSU in 2020, her online presence has only increased. Drastically. She's the No. 1 followed student-athlete-influencer on social media. And with NIL now in her corner, she's milking as much as she can from that status.
While her popularity is derived from social media, Dunne will be on a more mainstream stage this week as LSU competes in the NCAA gymnastics championships.
Here's everything you need to know about the young woman sweeping the nation, following in the Cavinder twins' footsteps as an influencer and collegiate athlete day-after-day.
MORE: How much do Miami's Cavinder twins make?
Olivia Dunne on TikTok and Instagram
Dunne is active when it comes to getting her face on your feed. The 20-year-old has 3.9 million followers just on her personal Instagram. She averages between 400,000 and 1 million likes and several thousand comments per post.
Not only that, but because Dunne first became famous on TikTok, her Instagram is only half of what translated over from her video account. On the clock app, she has 7.3 million followers and 370.2 million likes. At the top of her profile, she has two videos pinned, which are her most-watched, at 40.1 million and 39.2 million views.
The gymnast is high-profile for her sport. She is more than halfway to Simone Biles, who has 6.6 million Instagram followers, and has well surpassed Suni Lee's 1.7 million followers on the platform.
It's not often a college gymnast is heavily followed on Instagram, yet here is Dunne defying those odds. Her following far surpasses most of her NCAA peers:
| Name | School/Team | Credentials | Instagram followers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grace McCallum | Utah | Olympic silver medalist | 235,000 |
| Jade Carey | Oregon State | Olympic gold medalist | 317,000 |
| Elena Shinohara | Georgia Tech / U.S. National Rhythmic Gymnastics Team | Only elite-level rhythmic gymnast in the state of Georgia | 436,000 |
| Jordan Chiles | UCLA | Olympic silver medalist | 464,000 |
Olivia Dunne NIL deals, net worth
Dunne has $3.5 million in NIL deals and is third on the NIL 100 list, according to On3. She only trails Bronny James ($7.2 million) and Arch Manning ($3.8 million), both of whom have family legacies in the pros.
Dunne, on the other hand, appears to be self-made.
In just 10 weeks, her NIL has grown $242,000, making her the highest-earning collegiate gymnast in history, surpassing Auburn's Lee by $2.1 million. Lee and Dunne are the only two collegiate gymnasts earning $1 million annually. The third-highest earning is another Olympian, Jordan Chiles, at only $359,000.
Dunne has become a household name in the nearly two years NIL has been around. Her latest portfolio addition was Caktus AI, which also signed the Cavinder twins, the highest-paid collegiate women's basketball players.
MORE: What's next for Cavinder twins as they leave Miami?
Dunne inked a deal with sports broadcasting giant ESPN and holds a historic agreement with Leaf Trading Cards. Her other contracts include companies like Body Armor, Grubhub, Linktree, Forever 21, Vuori, American Eagle Outfitters and Bartleby, which is a growing study app.
All of this has made the LSU junior's net worth land somewhere around $2.3 million, according to Marca.
While there isn't a professional league for gymnastics, and her Olympic dream might not make fruition, if Dunne continues to sell her self-curated brand, she's going to be set for quite some time.
Olivia Dunne fan behavior raises concerns
Fans have caused a lot of issues with Dunne's fame, finding new and disgusting ways to fetishize the sport and the woman month after month.
The Guardian reported that former Olympic gymnast Samantha Peszek was at a meet between LSU and Utah earlier this season when she witnessed hungry flocks of unhinged teenage boys — Dunne admirers — outside the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
The sight was posted to Twitter by the sports broadcaster.
This is actually so scary and disturbing and cringey. I’m embarrassed for them… pic.twitter.com/h23bBdBQ9B
— Samantha Peszek (@samanthapeszek) January 8, 2023
Olympic gold medalist Kathy Johnson Clarke responded that she was behind Peszek when this occurred and the group was asking her if she was Dunne's mother, which she felt was creepy.
To be clear, these are teenage boys, and this should be a teachable moment. They were excited to see in person someone they follow on social media along with 4+ million other obsessed fans, but they had no idea how to comport themselves during the competition or after.
— Kathy Johnson Clarke, OLY 🌻🇺🇦 (@kathyjohnsongym) January 9, 2023
MORE: Why is Olivia Dunne so popular? Inside the LSU gymnastics star's TikTok fame
LSU gymnastics head coach Jay Clark reportedly called the scene 'moblike,' and the team had to up a security detail for road meets from there on out, according to Fox News. They had an officer in their hotel, outside their locker room and escorting them to and from their bus to keep a safety perimeter.
Dunne shared a response via Twitter to try and rectify the situation and tamp down the crazy.
I will always appreciate and love the support from you guys, but if you come to a meet, I want to ask you to please be respectful of the other gymnasts and the gymnastics community as we are just doing our job❤️
— Olivia Dunne (@livvydunne) January 8, 2023
