BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA: Social media sensation, Olivia Dunne, has taken the world of gymnastics by storm with her remarkable achievements. As a former member of the USA national team and current member of the LSU Tigers women's gymnastics team, in an explosive podcast interview, Dunne revealed why she stepped back from the spotlight.
The 'Golden Girl' of Sport shed light on the complexities of the USA Gymnastics scandal, addressing the issues that have plagued the sport. She also took the opportunity to reveal how excited she was about her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit debut.
'Gymnastics had terrible scandals'
During the interview, Dunne shared the reasons behind her choice to decline training with USA Gymnastics. Dunne said, "I mean I started gymnastics when I was like three just because I would like to climb everything but I realized probably when I was around like 10 years old that I was like you know what like I tried the Olympics so I would always leave my family growing up for a week every month go to the USA Olympic Training Center which you know the USA." She further added, "Gymnastics had terrible scandals and I mean that whole environment just was not so good."
She further added, "I was on the USA national team for a while there and decided when I was like 16 I was like you know what I'm just USA Gymnastics like fell apart in a sense while I was like in that program and I was like I'm just going to be healthy keep my full ride LSU and just be happy and love the sports I mean like what keeps you going with the gymnastics, while doing like obviously like your rise to fame it's such a weird thought to just give up."
Instead of pursuing a career with USA Gymnastics, Dunne prioritized her well-being and chose to continue her gymnastics journey at LSU, where she maintained a full scholarship.
'One of the most exciting days of my life'
Dunne made her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit debut in the 2023 issue, and she couldn't stop talking about how excited she was. She said, "That was probably one of like the most exciting days of my life I literally had practice later that day and I couldn't tell anyone for the longest time that was definitely one of the hardest Secrets I had to keep it was."
Dunne further revealed, "I couldn't tell anyone for the longest time that was definitely one of the hardest Secrets I had to keep it was." Dunne apparently couldn't hide the news from her mother. “As soon as I got off the phone, I was jumping up and down,” Dunne said in a video interview with SI Swim, “I called my mom, even though you’re not supposed to tell anyone right away. I had to tell my mom.”
