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Olivia Dunne Continues to Evolve With Sports Illustrated Swimsuit
Since she made her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue debut last spring, plenty has changed for LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne. Dunne is back for the magazine’s 2024 edition, this time traveling to Portugal for her shoot with Ben Watts, who photographed her last year in Puerto Rico.
Dunne says her inclusion in the magazine last year opened doors, including the opportunity to present an award an award at the ESPYs, where of course she got an LSU joke in.
College life changed, too, with Dunne switching her major to Interdisciplinary Studies from Communications. She’s also opened doors for her teammates, establishing “The Livvy Fund” last summer "to assist female student-athletes in earning new opportunities within [NIL]."
“I’m blessed enough to have all these opportunities with NIL, and I just wanted to provide NIL opportunities for the women student-athletes at LSU,” Dunne said during her shoot in Portugal. “When I get a brand deal, the brand puts money into the Livvy Fund, and we partner... other female student-athletes with the brand.”
Dunne says it’s important to her that the opportunities are there for other female student-athletes, “because they work just as hard as me.”
While Dunne’s social media following continues to balloon (since last May, her Instagram has gained 1.1 million followers and her TikTok has gained 59.3 million cumulative likes), making her seem larger than life, she remains as relatable as ever. Her mom and sister, who were both on hand for her shoot in Portugal, are key parts of her life, she says. But so are SpongeBob and Harry Potter. She may be the female college athlete with the highest NIL valuation, but at the end of the day, she’s also just a 21-year-old with life ahead of her.
Dunne may still be fresh into it in her second year with the SI Swimsuit franchise, but she says she already considers her fellow models family. “We just have a blast on set,” she said.
The 60th anniversary SI Swimsuit edition hits newsstands on May 15.
JOSH WILSON
Josh Wilson is the News Director of the Breaking & Trending News Team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining the SI team in 2024, Josh worked for FanSided in a variety of roles, most recently as Senior Managing Editor of the brand’s flagship site. He has also served as a general manager of Sportscasting, the sports arm of a startup sports media company, where he oversaw the site’s editorial and business strategy. Josh has a Bachelor’s degree in mass communications from the State University of New York at Cortland and a Master’s degree in accountancy from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois. Josh loves a good nonfiction book and enjoys learning and practicing Polish. He lives in Chicago but was raised in Upstate NY. He spent most of his life in the Northeast and briefly lived in Poland where he ate an unhealthy amount of pastries for six months.