Olivia Dunne is one of the most famous people on social media and it’s starting to back fire in a scary way.
The Louisiana State University gymnast had to send a message on Sunday and said, “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.”
Her team lost to the University of Utah’s Women’s Gymnastics team at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Utah entered the meet as the No. 3 team in the nation. The Tigers were ranked No. 6.
In the wake of some shocking video showing teenage boys going nuts trying to meet her, the gymnastics team is getting an extra layer of security for the rest of the season. The group of young men held posters and a full-sized cutout of Dunne screamed and chanted, disrupting the routines of other athletes.
Dunne was not in LSU’s lineup because of an injury, the group continued to chant, “We want Livvy! Give us Livvy!”
Coach Clark told The Advocate/Times-Picayune that a security officer will travel with the team to competitions for the rest of the season.
“That person will be in our hotel and outside our locker room and getting us to and from the bus at the venue,” Clark told the outlet. “(The officer) will be there to create a perimeter that keeps everybody safe.”
He added that he wanted to make sure that fans can seek autographs of the gymnasts but also keep the athletes’ safety in check.
“Things have to change. We just can’t expose them,” Clark added. “We’re looking at some policy changes that will give parents access at a different location to their daughters.”
Dunne is a junior at LSU.
She was a WCGA All-American in the uneven bars and, in 2022, was named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll.
