Konnor McClain helped her LSU Tigers to a silver medal in the recently concluded 2026 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics season. But after the season, Olivia Dunne’s former teammate has no time to rest as she revealed her impending diagnosis and surgery schedule. Revealing her ongoing tests, the U.S. National Champion in 2022 even gave an advice about picking gymnastics.

Dunne and McClain played an instrumental role as the LSU Tigers won the gold medal at the 2024 NCAA women’s gymnastics championship. When Dunne was 3 years old, she started gymnastics while dreaming of the Olympics. But as she grew older, she saw the reality of injuries in the sport. Like Dunne, whose Olympic dreams ended after ankle injury, McClain now faces uncertain future in sport.

LSU won the silver medal with a 198.0750 score behind the Oklahoma Sooners. Konnor McClain opened up on TikTok about just how much her body has been put through since the season ended. “It’s been a month since the season ended,” she said, listing a long series of medical tests. She revealed she has already gone through an ankle MRI, ankle CT scan, ankle surgery, shoulder MRI, elbow MRI, and wrist MRI.

She continued, “I still have to get a neck MRI, a neck CT scan, a chest MRI, and I’m on the way to get a gallbladder ultrasound and blood work. I had my blood work a couple of weeks ago, but I still have a wrist surgery to go.” She ended the video by saying, “So just rethink before you think about doing gymnastics.”

Gymnasts usually undergo medical tests after the season ends to assess the physical wear and tear on their bodies. These post-season evaluations identify lingering injuries, screen for nutritional deficiencies, and monitor long-term joint health to guide safe rehabilitation.

McClain was last seen at the 2026 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, where she still produced standout routines under pressure, scoring 9.9500 on uneven bars, anchoring her rotation with steady execution, and another 9.9500 on balance beam, helping LSU stay in the gold medal contention against the Oklahoma Sooners.

However, it did not matter as they ultimately had to settle for second place, but they did navigated through a rough playoff season. In the semifinal round, she scored 9.9125 on bars and 9.9500 on beam. This was as she was battling with an arm problem from the previous match of the tournament that affected her right elbow and arm after a significant hard fall on uneven bars in the regional finals.

The strain did not begin there either, as her 2026 season had already been disrupted earlier in the year. In February, during a meet against Oklahoma, she injured her arm in warm-ups on bars and was pulled out immediately as a precaution, with reports later describing it as a bone contusion.

Now, as McClain moves toward finishing her college journey, with graduation scheduled for 2027 and a major in social work, McClain is balancing recovery with student life at LSU. However, such injuries are nothing new in gymnastics and can abruptly end careers, such as that of Olivia Dunne.

Gymnastics injuries ended Olivia Dunne’s dreams

Olivia Dunne was once gunning for Olympic gold, but that path changed after a serious injury during her teenage years. She once revealed that while competing at the 2018 USA Championships, she was already in pain. “I was actually competing on a hurt ankle,” she said, explaining how serious it became over time. “Part of my ankle bone died… so my Olympic dreams died with it.”

Doctors diagnosed osteochondritis dissecans. She also reflected on how difficult that period was physically, saying, “It was so painful,” and adding that it was one of her first real injuries at the elite level. Looking back, she noted how unusual her journey had been, saying, “I’ve actually never gotten any surgery, which is kind of crazy for a gymnast.”

That early injury ultimately changed her direction in the sport long before her college career even became the main focus, which later ended on a bad note.

There was also a setback in Olivia Dunne’s final NCAA season. Injury hampered her final LSU season (2024-25), especially with an avulsion fracture in her kneecap. The injury kept her away from playing much early in the season.

After the knee injury, she missed senior night, home meets, and postseason action, spending the rest of the season in recovery while supporting her team from the sidelines. Since then, she has not returned to full gymnastics competition, and that final injury period at LSU effectively closed her NCAA chapter.