BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA: Olivia Dunne, a well-known athlete and significant social media influencer, is again in the spotlight due to internet criticism. For her final year, Dunne has returned to Louisiana State University. LSU's star recently shared a mirror selfie from her university.
After viewing the image, fans are unsure about Dunne's priorities due to a series of pictures she posted on her Instagram account. These pictures show her perched on some stairs, which has fueled rumors about her commitment to attending lessons.
Olivia Dunne's fans
Dunne in the past stated that she has taken a break from professional gymnastic competition and that she wants to focus on her higher studies. Reportedly, this week she went back to her university and even missed her new boyfriend Paul Skene's second minor league game.
The 20-year-old shared a mirror image from inside one of LSU's locker rooms on Instagram on Sunday with the message, "Back @LSU."
The gymnast displayed her blonde hair that was tied in a hair band while donning an all-black outfit made by the US-based athletic wear company Vuori Clothing.
As soon as Dunne posted an image, her fans began condemning her for using the university during her class hours to garner publicity.
Some of her fans have questioned whether her use of social media goes against her earlier position of avoiding the spotlight.
The highest-paid female college athlete Dunne competes for the LSU Tigers women's gymnastics team. Fans believe she still needs to find the perfect balance between her public character and her academic obligations, despite her great performance.
On her other different social media posts, a fan said, "I thought she was scared of being in the public? Lol."
Another user added, "Not sure why can't attend classes cause you're not that famous." To this third one replied saying, "Cause she can't photoshop herself in public."
Paul Skenes confirmed his relationship with Olivia Dunne
Paul Skene recently confirmed his relationship with Olivia Dunne. Skene stated that he met Dunne through mutual friends who were dating each other's roommates, Elena Marenas and Dunne.
During the College World Series in June, Dunne was seen wearing Skene's jersey. The 21-year-old baseball player later confirmed their relationship in an interview with The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Skenes stated, "It can be a pain in the butt sometimes, to be honest, in terms of actually going somewhere. If one of us went out in Baton Rouge [La.] by ourselves, there's probably gonna be someone there asking for something — picture, autograph, whatever."
Since they are both professional athletes, it is simple for them to share information with one another, therefore he gave information on their level of understanding. Skene hopes Dunne could watch his games and just take it all in.
"It's nice to be able to have that conversation. She does get it. I do wish she could come to a baseball game and just enjoy it. It does irk me. I don't have any control over it. She really doesn't either. I'm sure it'll get better as I go up levels, but that's something I want for her."
Skenes also spoke about the couple being followed everywhere they went by fans and fielding requests for photos, autographs, etc.
Prior to this year, the 21-year-old played college baseball for the LSU Tigers and Air Force Falcons before getting chosen by the MLB team Pittsburgh Pirates.
