Olivia Dunne is known for her deep love of the sunshine, the beach, and swimming—but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t appreciate a nice ski trip. Dunne, 21, shared highlights from a trip to Park City, Utah, at the beginning of the year, posing in black workout gear against a gorgeous snowy mountainous background. “Ski-yee!” she captioned the fun post. Dunne just scored a career-high 9.9 after being subbed on last minute for LSU—here’s how the star college athlete stays focused and strong.
Dunne is happiest when she’s outside in the sunshine, preferably at the beach. “Everyone gets overwhelmed, so being able to have something that brings you to that moment of happiness and that moment of peace and bliss is essential,” she told Sports Illustrated. “I always come back to the simple things: connecting with nature and being around the people I love. Perfection isn’t real. But finding moments of bliss can be, I just have to look in the right places.”
Dunne starts her day with schoolwork (she doesn’t attend classes in person anymore). “I come home, eat lunch and go right to the gym, where I train for hours,” she told the New York Post. “I have conditioning before or after practice, which takes place at football operations. Then, I go straight to the dining hall to eat dinner. After that, I come home [to my dorm] and do my work stuff at night.”
Dunne works hard to make her social media account successful (with 5.1 Instagram followers she’s doing something right!). “Making content is definitely time consuming. There’s 100s of takes and then you choose that perfect one for Instagram and TikTok,” she told the New York Post. “I probably take an hour or two to create content after practice. But some days I’m so busy, I can’t get to do it all… TikTok, I feel is where you can express yourself more, and that’s something I’m still getting used to and I’m still trying to open up more. That’s something I’ve been working on more — opening up in a more personal way.”
Dunne will be appearing in the 2024 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. “SI Swim means to me being comfortable in your own skin and being undeniably you, which is something I still work on to this day,” she told the magazine. “Body image is something that a lot of girls struggle with, especially young girls. In the sport of gymnastics, [body image is] a huge thing, and it’s something that I’m still working on to this day, being confident. But SI’s really helped me to see that it’s O.K. to not be perfect and to just be comfortable in your own skin.”
Dunne is used to dealing with the criticism that comes from being in the public eye—but she doesn’t let it deter her from following her dreams. “To see a woman winning? People sometimes have a lot to say,” she told ELLE. “If you’re a woman at the forefront of something, when you’ve got eyes on you, people are going to downplay your success and say that you’re not doing it right, that you don’t deserve all the opportunities… the best way to get that to stop is to keep being successful at what you’re doing, because your success, and love for what you do, will outshine any of that.”