Olivia Dunne is not just a former LSU gymnast; she is a social media powerhouse. During her time at LSU, Dunne used to share dozens of TikTok reels, giving a glimpse of what was going on in the LSU camp. Today, she boasts over 12 M combined followers on TikTok (8 M) and Instagram (5.4 M), making her the most-followed NCAA athlete. Leveraging the NCAA’s NIL policy, Dunne has amassed a multi-million-dollar income, with Forbes listing her among 2024’s 30 Under 30 and estimating $2.3 M earnings in the prior year, and this came from social media branding. Today, she goes back to the very first time she went viral. Have a look…

Olivia Dunne went back to her TikTok on June 24, 2025, to send her fans down memory lane, especially the ones who had been there even before she got famous and blew up. Posting a video with the caption, “the real ones remember beach-nastics #beach #flip #gymnastics #beachnastics“, the 22-year-old gymnast paired it with Leopard’s Stripping in the Club HNM Megamix playing in the background. What was the video about, though?

Her very first TikTok that got her viral and laid the basis for the social media star she is today. The former LSU gymnast sat by the beach, donning a blue swimsuit. The very next moment, Dunne got up and then ran towards the water. The camera cuts and then we see her do some beach-nastics (gymnastics on the beach) as she performs a move similar to Back Handspring on the beachside. “me chilling at the beach & then remembering why I blew up on tik tok in the first place,” she wrote in the video.

It was a throwback to one of the first videos that made her go viral. She began posting gymnastics videos on TikTok in 2020, but her first truly viral moment came during quarantine when she was stuck at her condo in Florida. She filmed herself performing an onodi on the beach, and that video quickly blew up, hitting over a million likes and marking the real takeoff of her TikTok fame. She talked of this in an interview with GQ, where she was discussing her rise to fame. 

She talked of how during quarantine, she got stuck at her condo in Florida, and just started posting content of her flipping around at the beach. “I guess people found joy in that in such a dark time. So I did an onodi—which is this one skill—and it got a million likes for the first time ever for me. Then my videos just kept picking up from there, and it just kind of all took off after quarantine.” The TikTok was posted on March 23rd, 2023. And from there began her journey of becoming a top social media star.

Olivia Dunne the social media star

After her TikTok got viral, the rest of them started gaining views themselves, and by summer 2021, she had become the most-followed NCAA athlete on TikTok. On July 1, 2021, the NCAA lifted its NIL restrictions, allowing athletes like Dunne to monetize their brand. LSU celebrated by featuring her on a towering Times Square billboard. A TikTok clip of her reacting to the billboard went viral, racking up approximately 19.4 million views. That moment led to her signing with WME Sports as their first NIL athlete.

By 2022, Dunne had become one of the highest-paid college athletes, generating around $3.3–$3.9 million annually from endorsement deals. She even commanded over $500,000 for a single sponsored post. Her major brand partnerships include Reebok, Vuori, BodyArmor, American Eagle, Crocs, and Sports Illustrated. What started as just a photoshoot for SI swimsuit edition has seen Olivia Dunne on the cover of the 2025 SI swimsuit edition. 

She began transitioning from athlete to mainstream media personality in 2023. She has been in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issues of 2023 – 2025. The former LSU gymnast was also featured in a Prime Video docuseries, The Money Game: LSU, and was included in Forbes’ “30 Under 30.” She also contributed to NBC’s digital coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympics. On April 17, 2025, Dunne announced her retirement from competitive gymnastics. In the wake of that milestone, she pivoted toward modeling, media commentary, and supporting women’s athletics through initiatives like The Livvy Fund.