Why Did Olivia Dunne’s Olympics Dream ‘Die’ Despite Having a Stellar NCAA Career?

Imagine training your whole life, dominating the NCAA scene, and being on track to represent your country at the Olympics. only to have it all taken away. That’s exactly what happened to Olivia Dunne.

She started gymnastics at just 3 years old and made it to the U.S. national team in 2017. Everything was going perfectly until an ankle condition called osteochondritis dissecans changed everything. The injury crushed her Olympic dreams before she even had the chance to compete on the biggest stage. Recently, Olivia opened up about the heartbreaking experience and how it shaped her both as an athlete and a person.

Olivia Dunne’s Injury Woes Ended Her Olympics Dream

The 22-year-old appeared on WWE giant, Stephanie McMahon’s podcast, ‘What’s Your Story?’ and explained why she let her Olympics dream die.

“I was actually competing on a hurt ankle [at] the 2018 USA Championships and part of my ankle bone died.”After the event, Dunne was diagnosed with osteochondritis dissecans, which caused the bone underneath the cartilage to lose the flow of blood and turn obsolete. She added, “It's called an OCD, it just died, so my Olympic dreams died with it.”

She added, “I did compete for Team USA, and we would go to Italy, compete, we won gold.

That was one of the biggest honors of my life. But, I mean, it was just not the right environment for me, and I kept getting hurt, you know what?, I'm going to go enjoy the sport again in college, go to LSU, heal up, and enjoy and love the sport.”For those unfamiliar, Olivia Dunne began her collegiate gymnastics journey in the 2020–21 season and played a key role in leading the LSU Tigers to their first-ever NCAA championship title in 2024.

She also earned WCGA All-American honors in 2021, marking herself as one of the standout athletes of her generation.

Olivia Dunne Calls Out The New York Times for Sexist Remark From 2022

Dunne officially retired from gymnastics in April 2025, but her impact didn’t stop there. She has since used her platform to uplift and support women in sports. In a recent podcast appearance, she even called out The New York Times for an alleged sexist remark made in their 2022 article. Back in 2022, they ran a controversial piece on Olivia Dunne titled ‘New Endorsements for College Athletes Resurface an Old Concern: S*x Sells.

’ The article drew backlash for describing Dunne as “a petite blonde with a bright smile and a gymnast’s toned physique.”

Recently, Dunne spoke out against the story and especially the headline, revealing what happened behind the scenes. “They came to our gymnastics facility at LSU, took pictures of me. They said, ‘Wear your team-issued attire, put on a leotard. And they took a picture of me standing in front of the beam, like any gymnast would, and then they blew it up on the screen and put the headline, ‘S*x Sells.”She continued, “Okay, well, you just came into the facility and took pictures of me in our team-issued attire and blew it up on a screen… So I was like, ‘okay, well, this is crazy.’ And there was obviously a lot of backlash to the New York Times because of that.”Also read: 5 Smart Deals That Turned Roger Federer Into A Billionaire