"How hard can it be? Boys do it" - Olivia Dunne advocates for gymnastics while challenging the status quo of top-earning student athletes

As one of the most widely-known players in America, Olivia Dunne's take on things carried significant weight. Recently, the 21-year-old LSU gymnast contrasted her struggle with attaining top-level amateur sports fame with that of her male counterparts.

The beneficiary of a 2021 NCAA rule change, Dunne, can now exploit her "name, image, and likeness" to gain an income. On account of her 12.7 million TikTok followers, the New Jersey native has become significantly wealthy.

In a recent video, Dunne pondered whether or not male NCAA athletes had as difficult of a time as she did on their way to the top.

Juxtaposed against a text box that read,

"when I heard the top-earning student athletes would be basketball and football players."

Showing her skepticism, the words "how hard can it be? Boys do it," was lip-synced by Olivia Dunne.

View on TikTok

In the video, Dunne draws attention to the fact that the most well-known NCAA athletes are basketball and football players. However, one of NCAA's highest-grossing basketball players is fellow LSU student Angel Reese.

Reese, who is worth some $1 million, is set to appear in a Prime documentary alongside Dunne this year.

Though she is set to graduate this spring, many have been wondering about the gymnast's health status lately. Last Friday, she missed her second consecutive meet as her LSU Tigers fell to Missouri State.

Last summer, Olivia Dunne also engaged herself with baseball fans after announcing her new love interest.

Dunne let it be known that she was dating former LSU pitcher Paul Skenes. Skenes, 6-foot-6, was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates with their first overall selection in the 2023 MLB Entry Draft.

"Paul Skenes and Livvy Dunne are IG official" - Austin Bechtold

Despite all of the fame and income that Olivia Dunne has garnered since the rule change, it has not all been positive. The starlet claims that she requires a security detail while in public and has also said that she no longer attends in-person classes at LSU due to safety concerns.

Olivia Dunne has shifted the traditional role of college athletes

When she first began uploading videos of her various routines to TikTok in early 2020, Dunne likely had no idea of the fame that she would achieve.

However, on account of her trailblazing, gymnastics is now seen as a top college sport, right alongside football, baseball and basketball stars, who have also seen their net worth balloon under the new NIL regime.