Is Livvy Dunne in the Olympics? Explaining LSU gymnast's NCAA results compared to Team USA

Jacob Camenker

Is Livvy Dunne in the Olympics? Explaining LSU gymnast's NCAA results compared to Team USA image

Team USA faced plenty of grueling choices ahead of the 2024 Olympics, but arguably, none were more difficult than the creation of the U.S. women's gymnastics team.

The United States has one of the best women's gymnastics programs in the world and a dozen candidates could have made the five-woman team. Regardless of who went to Paris, the team was going to be talented.

Because of this, a handful of uber-talented gymnasts were left off the roster. Some of the omissions — including Shilese Jones, Skye Blakely and Kayla DiCello — were due to injury. Others, such as Tiana Sumanasekera, narrowly missed an alternate spot.

But what about Livvy Dunne? The LSU gymnast is one of the most popular college athletes in the world thanks to her status as a social media icon, so many casual gymnastics fans might be wondering whether she garnered any consideration for the team.

Here's what to know about Dunne's skill set, her USA Gymnastics career and how her best scores compare to those representing the United States in Paris.

MORE: Meet Team USA's roster for Paris Olympics, from Simone Biles to Hezly Rivera

Is Livvy Dunne in the Olympics?

No, Livvy Dunne is not in the Olympics. She once competed for Team USA at the 2017 City of Jesolo Trophy, but that represented her only time on the national team.

Dunne was both a junior and senior elite and participated in the U.S. National Championships from 2015 to 2018. Her best all-around mark in that event came in 2017, when she finished ninth all-around as a junior elite.

Dunne sat out the 2019 season to heal after injuries hampered her in 2018. She returned in 2020 but dropped to Level 10 — the highest level of the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympics Program — before shifting her focus to her LSU career and budding social media fame.

Now, Dunne is a 2024 NCAA champion gymnast and has the largest following among NCAA athletes on social media.

Is Livvy Dunne good at gymnastics?

Yes, Dunne is good at gymnastics. She may not have been a senior elite in Team USA's program for long, but it takes a lot to make it to the sport's highest levels.

Dunne has enjoyed a strong college career as well. She's listed as an all-around competitor at LSU, but she has largely competed on the uneven bars and floor exercises during her college career.

Dunne was named an All-American on the uneven bars in 2021 and sports a career-best mark of 9.925 on that apparatus. She has logged that score twice, first against Alabama during her freshman season in 2021 and then against Centenary as a sophomore in 2022.

LSU has utilized Dunne on the uneven bars in each of its four SEC championship appearances during her time with the program. Her best showing came in 2021 when she finished fifth in the event.

Below is a look at her scores in that discipline from each year, per RoadToNationals.com:

YearScorePlace
20219.905th
20229.87517th
20239.8528th
20249.8T-41st

Dunne also competed in the 2021 NCAA Championships on the uneven bars. She posted a strong mark of 9.90 despite LSU finishing last in its qualifying group behind Oklahoma, Utah and Alabama.

After competing on the floor just six times in her first three years, Dunne became more active in that discipline in 2024. She appeared on the floor in eight meets for LSU and posted a high-water mark of 9.90 twice. She has reached that mark four times in 14 floor exercise appearances during her career.

Suffice to say that Dunne has done well for herself. She earned a role as a key specialist on LSU's 2024 NCAA championship-winning team despite her lengthy injury history, which includes an ankle injury, two torn labrums, a torn bicep and a stress reaction in her leg.

So while Dunne may not be a part of Team USA, she is still among the most talented gymnasts in the country.

MORE: How Paul Skenes, Livvy Dunne's relationship began

Livvy Dunne NCAA scores at LSU

Dunne has only competed on the uneven bars and floor during her collegiate career, so it's hard to build an all-around profile of her. Still, her best scores show that she is a quality, two-discipline specialist when healthy.

ApparatusBest scoreAchieved
Uneven bars9.9252021 vs. Alabama, 2022 vs. Centenary
Floor exercise9.9002022 vs. Alabama, 2022 Raleigh Regional, 2024 Podium Challenge, 2024 Arkansas Regional II

Dunne's best scores came earlier in her career, which should be a surprise. Health has been an issue for her, as she was limited to just four meets in 2023 and missed the 2024 national championship because of injuries.

Even so, Dunne was a quality producer for LSU in 2024, routinely posting marks of 9.8 or better on her two apparatuses.

Below is a look at her scores from the 2024 NCAA season:

Uneven bars

MeetScore
Podium Challenge9.875
SEC Championships9.800

Floor exercise

MeetScore
Ohio State9.875
Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad9.850
Arkansas9.875
Georgia9.800
Auburn9.850
Podium Challenge9.900
UNC9.850
Arkansas Regional II9.900

Livvy Dunne U.S. Championship scores

Below is a look at how Dunne performed in her four U.S. Championship appearances:

YearLevelVaultBarsBeamFloorAll-Around
2015Junior26.400 (27th)24.800 (23rd)25.600 (23rd)26.600 (21st)103.400 (25th)
2016Junior26.800 (22nd)24.550 (T-21st)27.350 (8th)27.650 (6th)106.350 (12th)
2017Junior27.150 (15th)25.850 (9th)27.100 (7th)26.650 (T-8th)106.750 (9th)
2018Senior26.100 (20th)23.600 (17th)24.300 (20th)24.650 (T-19th)98.750 (18th)

Dunne's scores in her four U.S. National Championship trips look higher than her college scores, but it's important to remember the scoring systems between the two governing bodies differ.

College scores are out of 10, with 10 representing the highest mark on any apparatus. USA Gymnastics uses a system that evaluates the difficulty of each routine (D scores) and the execution of each element (E scores) to create a more malleable number that often lands between 10 and 15 for top senior gymnasts.

The results at the U.S. National Championships are also compiled over two days and typically consist of two scores combined rather than one alone.

As such, it's hard to compare the scores between her LSU and USA Gymnastics days without breaking down each routine individually.

MORE: How much does Olivia Dunne make? Net worth & NIL deals for LSU gymnast

Team USA Olympic trial scores 2024

While Dunne posted respectable scores in her championship appearances, even her best marks came up short of what the five members of the 2024 Olympic team posted at the Team USA trials, as seen below.

GymnastVaultBarsBeamFloorAll-Around
Simone Biles31.475 (1st)28.625 (2nd)27.550 (4th)29.575 (1st)117.225 (1st)
Suni Lee27.625 (10th)29.275 (1st)27.275 (5th)27.550 (7th)111.675 (2nd)
Jade Carey29.275 (2nd)26.650 (T-8th)27.200 (6th)28.225 (2nd)111.350 (4th)
Jordan Chiles28.825 (T-3rd)28.525 (3rd)25.850 (11th)28.200 (2nd)111.425 (3rd)
Hezly Rivera27.725 (7th)28.325 (4th)27.925 (T-1st)27.075 (8th)111.150 (5th)

Team USA's members are the cream of the crop, so Dunne certainly won't feel bad about being a rung below them on the gymnastics totem pole — especially since she has carved out a perfect role for herself at LSU.

Jacob Camenker

Jacob Camenker Photo

Jacob Camenker first joined The Sporting News as a fantasy football intern in 2018 after his graduation from UMass. He became a full-time employee with TSN in 2021 and now serves as a senior content producer with a particular focus on the NFL. Jacob worked at NBC Sports Boston as a content producer from 2019 to 2021. He is an avid fan of the NFL Draft and ranked 10th in FantasyPros’ Mock Draft Accuracy metric in both 2021 and 2022.