Olivia Dunne. Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne signs historic NIL deal

LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne has signed a NIL deal to join the 2023 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition.

The 20-year-old junior shared the news on her Twitter page on Thursday morning, saying that the partnership has made her "dreams come true."

According to Pete Nakos of On3 NIL, Dunne is the most followed college athlete on social media and will become one of the first college athletes to appear in the publication. She will be joined by another student-athlete this year (who wasn't mentioned in the article) to become the first pair to appear in the Swimsuit edition.

"Women’s sports is something that I want to support and leave my legacy on," Dunne told People Magazine, per Nakos. "I want to show other athletes that you can have it all -- especially women."

According to Nakos, Dunne has approximately 11.3 million followers combined across her Instagram, TikTok and Twitter accounts.

"Usually being a DI athlete, an all-academic and an industrious entrepreneur is enough to garner respect and accolades," Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition Editor-in-Chief MJ Day told People Magazine, according to Nakos. "But when you are Livvy Dunne and you also mix in being arrestingly beautiful, you, unfortunately, garner the ire and resentment of a certain niche population. The backlash she received for ‘leveraging’ her sexuality for endorsement dollars after the NIL restrictions were lifted is incorrect."

Dunne has a $3.5M On3 NIL Valuation, placing her at the top in college women's gymnastics. The amount also has her ranked second in the On3 NIL 100, trailing only Bronny James.

Other members of the top 10 include Texas freshman quarterback Arch Manning ($3.2M) and LSU women's basketball star Angel Reese ($1.4M).

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