LSU Gymnast Olivia Dunne Asks Fans to 'Be Respectful' After They Crowded Outside the Stadium Following Meet
Louisiana State University gymnast Olivia Dunne has a message for her fans after things got out of hand following Friday's opening-season meet.
Dunne, 20, shared a pointed tweet on Sunday and said, "I will always appreciate and love the support from you guys, but if you come to a meet, I want to ask you to please be respectful of the other gymnasts and the gymnastics community as we are just doing our job❤️"
Her team lost to the University of Utah's Women's Gymnastics team at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Utah sports writer Josh Furlong live-tweeted during the meet on Friday night. He shared a photo of fans in the stands holding up letters that read "Livvy" along with a life-size cutout of the college gymnast.
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"There's a group of fans that keep chanting "Livvy" " he tweeted, before noting that Dunne "is the most followed college athlete on social media". Her name, image, likeness value is also said to be near $2.7 million.
Though Dunne did not actually compete on Friday night, a host of boys were hoping to meet her after the meet, Furlong later added.
He wrote, "There's literally a line outside of the Huntsman Center of teenage boys that keep asking if Livvy is coming out. I've never seen anything like this."
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Police intervened and LSU's team bus ultimately had to move "so they didn't have to run into the group of boys. There were cops stationed in front to avoid them getting in," wrote Furlong.
Sports broadcaster Samantha Peszek shared footage of teenage boys yelling obscenities as she left the arena.
"This is actually so scary and disturbing and cringey. I'm embarrassed for them…," she tweeted.
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Olympic medalist Kathy Johnson Clarke replied and said she had her own encounter.
"I was walking out just behind you, Sam, and they were screaming to me, "Are you Livvy's mom? Are you Livvy's mom?" Very disturbing. Creepy, actually," she wrote, later adding that the moment could serve as a "teachable moment" for the boys.
A mother of Utah gymnast Jillian Hoffman, a junior, shared her daughter's interaction with the crazed fans via Facebook, according to Outkick.
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"I am a mother of a Utah gymnast, as we were walking to the car the group swarmed my daughter and her teammate," she wrote. "They literally said to their faces, you are not Livvy but you will do, can we get a picture. [The group] also called my daughter Livvy 2.0. They were so rude and disrespectful. It was very hard for mama bear not to come out."
She later added, "[Jillian and her teammate] were approached by a large group of teenage boys, disappointed that LSU had already left the arena and they wouldn't be getting the photos of their dreams. They did not know the girls' names. They just wanted photos with gymnasts and were disrespectful in the things they were saying. End of story!"
