Olivia Dunne led the LSU gymnastics team to their 5th Southeastern Championship (SEC) title on March 23, and the fan-favorite gymnast has now posted a series of celebratory pictures on her social media account.
LSU Tigers defeated Alabama Crimson Tide, University of Kentucky Wildcats, and Florida Gators in a quad meet in New Orleans, Louisiana. The purple team posted a mammoth score of 198.075, becoming the only team in the meet to breach the 198 mark.
Alabama scored 197.750 to finish as runner-ups while Kentucky and Florida scored 197.600 and 197.300 to finish 3rd and 4th respectively. The star performer of the night was Haleigh Bryant, who secured the all-around and vault title.
Ashley Cowan won the uneven parallel bars title while LSU sensation Konnor McClain ended the championship as the only gymnast to score a perfect 10 on the balance beam. LSU star Olivia Dunne competed on the bars and scored 9.800 to clinch the third spot on the bars.
After the win, Livvy posted a series of pictures with the SEC trophy on Instagram. She captioned the post:
"100% chance of purple reign💍☔️"
Dunne can be seen holding the silverware in her arms on several occasions, and even kissing the SEC Championship trophy as well. She also posed with her LSU teammates in a group photo alongside the trophy.
Olivia Dunne on handling criticism
Olivia Dunne has amassed a huge following of more than 15 million over various social media profiles and is one of the most popular gymnasts in the country. Owing to a successful career, and bold fashion choices, the 21-year-old often faces criticism from netizens. However, she remains focused on her work.
In a recent interview with Elle, the LSU star expressed her thoughts on the criticism she faces, and claimed that it was because of a woman succeeding in her career.
"“To see a woman winning? People sometimes have a lot to say,” Olivia Dunne said.
She explained that the best way to handle that criticism was to keep becoming more and more successful. Livvy added:
"I don’t want to say ‘F you', but the best way to get that to stop is to keep being successful at what you’re doing, because your success and love for what you do will outshine any of that."