"Generally happens to people in a car accident"- Olivia Dunne's "unusual" injury explained by LSU HC

LSU head coach Jay Clark recently shared an insight into Olivia Dunne's "unusual" injury situation as the gymnast continues to miss most of the competitions this season. Dunne is also set to miss the Tiger's regular-season finale on Friday, March 14, against Auburn University.

Dunne is currently enduring what she described as an "avulsion fracture of my patella" and was gutted to miss her final home game as her LSU career comes to a close in a few weeks. Clark weighed in on the gymnast's injury in a pre-game conference ahead of the regular season finale and said it was very uncommon for a gymnast to go through this injury.

"It's about her pain, it's an unusual thing, i had to look it up like I didn’t even know what the retinaculum in the knee was. And generally speaking... the little avulsion fracture that she has, she and I were talking about it yesterday, that generally happens to people who have been in a car accident," Clark said about Dunne [14:51 onwards].

Clark further shared that Dunne had made some progress with her recovery, and he was hopeful the gymnast would compete at least on uneven bars.

"She can't recall anything like that, and it's a very unusual thing that she's dealing with and it just hurts. She can force herself to function with it but it's just very painful and trying to figure out how do we get her comfortable. We shut her down and immobalized it and trying to get it to calm down and I think there's been some progress and I still remain cautiously optimistic that could become available again, atleast on Bars," he further added.

Dunne hasn't competed since January and has missed six consecutive meets for LSU. The 22-year-old has a known history of injuries, including missing much of the 2022-23 season due to two torn labrums, but this time, the situation seems much worse with a fractured Patella.

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Olivia Dunne addresses her future post-LSU career

Olivia Dunne in action at LSU's PMAC center- Source: Getty

Olivia Dunne is in her fifth and final season with LSU Gymnastics and is set to conclude her collegiate gymnastics career next month. She has ruled out competing in elite gymnastics, and while she hasn't figured out her future plans yet, the 22-year-old aims to grow her NIL-focused The Livvy Fund beyond LSU.

“I think there will be a lot more free time day-to-day to pick and choose what I want to do. I’m going to the Kentucky Derby (in May) so I’m very excited about that. I’m going to keep working with Sports Illustrated. I don’t know what the future holds, but I’m excited and passionate about The Livvy Fund and growing it beyond LSU, to help female athletes nationwide,” Olivia Dunne told NOLA.

Dunne helped the Lady Tigers win the program's first-ever NCAA Gymnastics Championships last year and would be eager to recover from the injury and help them defend it. She is a multiple-time WCGA Academic All-American and was recognized on the 2022 SEC Academic Honor Roll.