One opportunity gone awry led to even more exposure for Olivia Dunne.
Dunne, the 20-year-old LSU gymnast who is a dynamo on social media, was the subject of a story in The New York Times last November, entitled “New Endorsements for College Athletes Resurface an Old Concern: Sex Sells.”
After the story was published, she responded by posting a photo on Instagram with the caption, “Is this too much?” and tagged the Times.
As she explained recently on the “Full Send Podcast,” this retort helped lead to her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit spread.
“[The New York Times] wrote a hit piece about me,” Dunne said, as covered by Fox News.
“It was complete BS. I mean, they called me on the phone in November and they told me that they were going to write about my accomplishments and stuff and I was like, ‘OK, for sure. That’s awesome. The New York Times. That’s huge.’”
Dunne said she was taken aback by the line of questioning from Times reporter Kurt Streeter.
“The interviewer called me and he was asking me very odd questions. It was worded quite weird,” Dunne said.
“He was like, ‘So, how does it feel to be a small petite blonde gymnast doing so well with NIL.’ I was just like, ‘Why does it matter that I’m petite and blonde.’ You can just ask me about NIL without you having to use these weird ways of saying it.”
Dunne also thought it was bizarre that they photographed her in her LSU-issued leotard, alongside a harsh headline.
“That’s what we have to wear,” she said of the leotards, which they wear during their meets.
“When the article came out, it was a giant picture of me just standing there in a leotard and the headline was ‘Sex Sells.’ So I was like, ‘So, you’re going to come into the gym. You’re going to ask me to pose in our team-issued attire and then put a headline, ‘Sex Sells.’
“In the article, they were saying the things I was doing were a step back for women’s athletics.”
Nevertheless, lemons turned into lemonade.
“I guess it caught Sports Illustrated’s attention and then they were like, ‘We loved that you clapped back at The New York Times since they’re so major,’” Dunne said.
Dunne made her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit debut in this year’s issue.