Sam Amico
No one is capitalizing on college athletes being allowed to be paid quite like Olivia Dunne. A member of the LSU women’s gymnastics team, Dunne was in fact the highest-paid women’s college athlete of 2022.
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Dunne, 20, will likely hold the title again this year, as her earnings and popularity only seem to grow. And that’s really saying something.
The latest example of that is the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition, in which Dunne appears. Her photo shoot alone has garnered tons of positive feedback.
Olivia Dunne for SI!
But earning money can come with a price. For instance, Dunne needed time away from the Tigers — and school — just to be in SI.
“We went to Puerto Rico, it was right when my gymnastics season started, and they usually take six days to shoot it, and I obviously can’t take six days off from the beginning of my season,” Dunne said, via the New York Post.
Her coach, Jay Clark, gave her a day off.
“I prayed for good weather and then I shot and I came back to school,” Dunne said.
She has since been busy promoting the result of that photo shoot on the East Coast, adding to SI’s marketing efforts.
“Getting the opportunity to be in SI Swimsuit was such a dream of mine and when it happened, I actually could not believe it,” Dunne told the publication.
It’s estimated that Dunne has earned about $3.4 million as a college athlete.
