LSU gymnast and social media sensation Olivia Dunne has revealed that she returned to Baton Rouge for a fifth season thanks to her Tiger teammates.
Dunne announced his return to the Tigers in July amid speculation that he would skip his extra year and try to influence full-time with his nearly 14 million followers on Instagram and TikTok.
It wasn't guaranteed that she would return to college sports, as she had a fairly full life outside of LSU due to her huge online profile and her romance with Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes.
One of Dunne's main partnerships is with energy drink Accelerator. He rubbed shoulders with Travis Kelce while filming an ad for the brand.
In one commercial, Dunne taught Kelce gymnastics moves as she caught a soccer ball while Taylor Swift's boyfriend looked on approvingly.
Skenes and Dunne have been a couple since the summer of 2023, when they were both student-athletes at LSU.
Dunne revealed that he returned to Baton Rouge for a fifth season thanks to his Tiger teammates.
One of Dunne's main associations is with Accelerator, where he rubbed shoulders with Kelce.
Dunne has been dating baseball star Paul Skenes since they were both student-athletes at LSU.
With Skenes watching closely, Dunne began her season by placing fourth on the balance beam without falling, with a score of 9.825. That routine was the first he performed as Tiger.
Dunne increased her score to 9.875 and placed third in the Tigers' final event of the night, the floor exercise. Dunne has also competed on the uneven bars for LSU in the past.
“I have to take advantage of every moment because I know it could be my last,” Dune said via NOLA.com. “We will never get this team back and we have a special group of girls.”
Dunne was granted a fifth year of eligibility in college sports due to being on LSU's roster during the 2020-21 school year, amid the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
Dunne's recent stay in Louisiana also includes her and Skenes being in New Orleans the night of the Bourbon Street terrorist attack after sharing chilling images from their New Year's celebrations.
On New Year's Day, the LSU gymnastics sensation posted two photos from a night out at Louisianahowever, both appear to be from the night before.
Skenes and Dunne were first photographed with fellow pirate Bubba Chandler and partner Allie Enright in a bar.
Dunne also posted a second image, which appeared to show a packed Bourbon Street hours before the deadly attack, along with a broken heart emoji.
It is unclear exactly when the group was on Bourbon Street, although the large crowd, apparently in good spirits, would suggest it was before the attack.
Dunne's public romance with Skenes has become an indelible part of his personal brand.
Dunne has modeled in the past for Nautica and could pursue that line of work as a full-time job.
Dunne will keep an eye on her all year as the Tigers try to repeat as national champions.
Dunne has a name, image and likeness value of $4.2 million per year. On3making her the highest-earning woman competing in college sports at $2.7 million over fellow LSU athlete Flau'jae Johnson.
While Dunne has yet to make his appearance with Kelce routine, his romance with Skenes has become an indelible part of his brand.
She watched his minor league appearances at LSU and made sure to travel the country with him as he rose to the Pittsburgh Pirates' rotation and then an All-Star starter.
Skenes enters the 2025 MLB season as one of the best pitchers in baseball and shows no signs of slowing down.
Although Opening Day and the end of gymnastics season will likely coincide, spending a lot of time traveling across the country to see Skenes launch seems like a perfect post-college gift for Dunne.