BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA: Olivia Dunne is feeling nostalgic as she starts her senior year at LSU and her final gymnastics season with the Tigers. The 20-year-old, who is the highest-paid female NCAA athlete in the country, began her gymnastics career at the age of three and hasn't looked back since.
Dunne recently uploaded a TikTok video featuring remarkable gymnastics tricks with her 7.7 million fans. The video opened with a flashback of her younger self racing on the gym floor and flipping around.
'I can't believe this is my last year '
The clip flawlessly transitioned to Dunne in her distinctive glittering purple-and-yellow LSU leotard. Dunne included small footage of herself on the floor, beam, and bars, sticking her landings, celebrating with her teammates, and simply doing her thing. "Girlhood," read the text on the screen for the full 22 seconds.
The TikTok video was created to the sound of a touching monologue from the Barbie movie. Dunne used audio by Rhea Perlman, who plays Barbie's inventor Ruth Handler in the movie, "Take my hands. Close your eyes. Now feel." The conversation was superimposed over the opening piano ballad from Billie Eilish's "What Was I Made For?" which is also featured on the film's soundtrack. "I can't believe this is my last year ever #foryou #lsu #gymnastics," Dunne wrote in the video's caption.
@livvy i can’t believe this is my last year ever #foryou #lsu #gymnastics ♬ original sound - Billie Eilish Home'I’m getting emotional over this'
As Dunne's video went viral, her fans started commenting on the video. A fan mentioned getting emotional after watching Dunne's gymnastics journey, "I’m getting emotional over this."
One fan wrote, "What an amazing journey."
Another user questioned, "You plan on going Olympic?" To this Dunne replied, "No my body hurts."
After reading Dunne's caption a fan thought LSU's star is quitting. They questioned, "Wait you’re quitting???" Dunne responded, "No I’m going to be a senior this year."