LSU’s Olivia Dunne’s presence disrupts gymnastics meet, increased security coming
Olivia Dunne’s followers have caught up to her.
The LSU gymnast – and TikTok influencer with more than 6.7 million followers – caused quite the stir at the team’s season opener at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City last Friday.
A group of young men holding posters and a full-sized cutout of Dunne screamed, disrupting the routines of other athletes. Dunne, the highest-earning woman in college athletics, was not in LSU’s lineup because of an injury.
As a result, LSU has decided to beef up security moving forward.
“We will have security detail with us now when we go on the road and we will be working to create a perimeter around where we get on the bus, where we load,” LSU head coach Jay Clark told ESPN.
The Tigers are on the road Friday at the University of Kentucky.
A day after the meet, ESPN analyst Sam Peszek, a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic gymnastics team, tweeted a video of the group lined up outside the arena Friday afternoon chanting, “Livvy, Livvy! We want her!”
“This is actually so scary and disturbing and cringey,” Peszek wrote. “I’m embarrassed for them.”
On Sunday, Dunne responded to the incident on Twitter, writing, “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.”