Olivia Dunne may be a social media superstar, but she didn’t start that way. Instead, her story began at a gymnastics gym, with dreams of competing in the Olympics like her idol, Nastia Liukin. But a career‑threatening injury derailed that path, forcing her out of the gym for months. Instead of giving up, Dunne used that setback to her advantage, focused on social media, and used it as motivation that ultimately made her famous.

The now 23-year-old opened up about the brutal ankle injury that dashed any dreams she had of the Olympics, revealing how she re-shaped her career, using the time to set the stage for her rise as a social media influencer.

“With gymnastics, you’re doing it as you’re going through puberty, and it can really hurt your body,” Dunne told Boardroom.tv “I’ve broken multiple bones. I feel like I would always find a silver lining somehow. I would be hurt, and I would post on social media, and I would try to take the bad with some good.

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“I think my first major injury was an OCD in my ankle. I broke my ankle. I had part of my bone that died when I was just a young girl. And that can be career-ending sometimes when your bone dies. So I was like, “How do I make light of this situation?” And I really dialed into social media.”

That’s because before the injury, Olivia Dunne was considered an elite-level gymnast, rising through the ranks rapidly after her debut. Once she turned senior in 2018, she continued at an elite level, even participating in the 2018 US Classic. However, that was around the time she suffered the injury and even competed at the 2018 US Classic with the injured ankle. 

It’s why Olivia Dunne only competed on the uneven bars at the Classic and eventually decided to focus on collegiate-level gymnastics, joining the Louisiana State Tigers (LSU). She did relatively well for the Tigers and was a key part of the team throughout her college career, while becoming a prominent figure on social media. That happened during her early years at LSU, but she couldn’t quite capitalize on it just yet.

“LSU has always had athletes with star power, and they were never able to capitalize off of their star power and their NIL,” Dunne revealed. “My freshman year, I wasn’t able to capitalize on my NIL that whole year, but I didn’t really care because I just loved to do social media.”

“I didn’t know the money and the opportunities that could come with it until the rule did change. I was upset at the time when, during my freshman year, I wasn’t able to take a free sweatshirt. I didn’t really know what could come with being the highest-earning female athlete.”

When the NIL rule changed in 2021, Dunne was well prepared to capitalize, and she took her time picking the right team. “So when that rule changed in 2021, the first thing I did was take my time picking the right agency and people that I trust,” she added. “I feel like the biggest downfall is having people around you don’t trust.”

“My mom, my sister, my dad work heavily with me, and I love my agents; they’re amazing. I took my time with [picking the right team] and made sure that everything was right and I wasn’t rushing.”

And it worked out perfectly, as Dunne combined her social media success alongside LSU’s star power and their first-ever NCAA Championship win in 2024 to further elevate her brand.

Olivia Dunne looking to explore her more creative side post-retirement

That includes using her social media popularity and status as an influencer to help secure endorsement deals with Grubhub, BodyArmor, American Eagle, and more. Not only that, she became a model for Sports Illustrated and other publications, including Forbes and The Times. It meant that by May 2023, Olivia Dunne was the highest-valued women’s collegiate athlete, with an NIL valuation of around $3.3 million, according to ON3.

But now, having retired from gymnastics and competing, Dunne has been attempting to break into a new industry. So much so that the 23-year-old revealed in March 2026 that she had been taking acting lessons for a long time and had fallen in love with it.

“One thing people would be surprised about is that I take acting lessons — and I really love it,” Dunne told PEOPLE. “It’s something I’ve been passionate about for quite some time. I was interested in doing that at LSU, but sports are your top priority when you’re a student-athlete at school; school and sports, but really gymnastics was my main focus.”

“And now that I’m done with school, I have more time to lean into the acting stuff and the creative side of things,” she added.

The 23-year-old is currently filming the Baywatch reboot series, according to several posts across her social media pages, but hasn’t narrowed herself down to just acting. Olivia Dunne wants to continue exploring her creative side by collaborating with artists in different fields.

“I feel like collabing on creativity and seeing the end result, having something be great after, that’s something that I love,” Dunne added. “And whether it’s gymnastics or acting in a movie or a TV show, I just think watching all your hard work pay off, whether it’s an individual thing or a group thing, I think it’s so cool.”

Now, with gymnastics behind her, Dunne is leaning into those new opportunities, using the platform she built to explore what comes next. Only time will tell, however, just how far her path takes her.