How NIL has transformed gymnastics for Olympians, NCAA and beyond

[cats]

I guess the thing that confuses me about all of this is that - as far as I understand it - gymnastics is pretty much completely incidental to her social media fame. It seems pretty non repeatable.

I don’t have a problem with her apart from her endorsement of that homework cheating AI tool. I thought she was enjoyable enough as a junior elite, and if she is ever healthy I’ll be happy to see her compete more. As far as influencers go, it’s quite unlazy of her to stay in school and the sport when she could swan off to do nothing.

I don’t follow her social but when I’ve looked her up I’ve been very struck by how tame her Instagram is for someone who has had multiple “sex sells” articles written about her on major platforms like SI and NYTimes. I just don’t really get it.

 

[JDB]

I don’t follow her social but when I’ve looked her up I’ve been very struck by how tame her Instagram is for someone who has had multiple “sex sells” articles written about her on major platforms like SI and NYTimes. I just don’t really get it.

The articles are hyping it up but also we’re not her intended audience. Not gonna lie, I would have found her Instagram titillating when I was a freshman.

 

[QuietColours]

I fully agree with this, but I’ll also cut her some slack. I wouldn’t expect any affluent, pretty 20 year old to get this yet. I am absolutely certain she’s worked very hard in her life–you don’t achieve the level she has in athletics without a work ethic, and I am also certain she worked very hard on establishing her influencer brand. She knows she worked hard, managed her time well, and it’s paying off in a lot of different ways. I wouldn’t really expect her to start realizing how family support, the resources LSU can provide, simply her own appearance, other advantages she’s had in life have really helped her on her way in a way that not everyone can imitate. And I wouldn’t really expect her to understand how you can’t be everything until those support resources are no longer available in the same quantity or way and she starts finding herself with more and more obligations in life. It’s something that life experience provides a lot of perspective on–often after it’s taken a significant toll.

Or maybe she’ll never get there, because having a lot of money can smooth that process a lot. But I’m not going to criticize a twenty year old for not getting it yet. I do hope she has someone in her life who might be able to help her understand though.

 

[RedBirdie]

Another Dunne article, this time in Elle

It’s Livvy Dunne’s World

With more than 13 million followers and a seven-figure paycheck, the gymnast and social media star is the future of college sports.

www.elle.com

 

[cuuf]

Ugh, so over the Livvy Dunne articles. Regardless of where you fall on her selling her sexuality versus her empowerment, she is an anomaly in the NIL space. She is hardly the standard of how NIL is for all gymnasts.

 

[RedBirdie]

Which the article discusses.

 

[irichluck21]

Which the article discusses.

I found it extremely well written and informative as well.

 

[Sparklesmom]

I have a teen aged soon to be college gymnast and she is not at all inspired by her. She (and the majority of her teammates) actually don’t like her one bit. She is in fact kind of annoyed that one of the first responses she gets when people hear she will be doing college gym is “oh do you get to be with Livvy Dunne?” Its always from men and it never fails to gross her out and piss her off. While she concedes that Olivia is not as air headed as she likes to portray herself, and that likely it is a highly strategic way in which she cultivates her image she doesn’t feel it elevates the sport and hates the fact that now because of her, people think that gymnasts are nothing more than girls who do cartwheels half naked on the internet. It feels demeaning to her.

 

[ucrgirl]

On the one hand, good for her for making money off gymnastics. On the other hand, I kind of sympathize with Jay Clark (and maybe other coaches?) about not liking the social media distractions during practice and competitions.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

She says she doesn’t go to classes in person for safety reasons. I hope the money is worth it.

 

[cuuf]

Its amazing on some level how things get a “life of their own”. Meaning the frenzy around her. This article was another fluff piece putting her forward as some type of empowered feminist role model. While wearing an $800 body suit, $800 jeans and $3000 earrings. I’m sorry I have to roll my eyes at this, she is not “the first woman to do A Thing”. Madonna, Kim Khardasian, Lady Gaga heck Miley Cyrus, and many others have parlayed their looks and sensuality to great monetary success. Lets be clear, she’s not famous because of her gymnastics exploits, for whatever reasons, bad luck, timing, injuries, she has been a mediocre to bad college gymnast. What really annoys me is the one-sidedness of the conversation. Its one thing to say the average woman on the street should dress a certain way and act a certain way or is otherwise “asking for it”. Yes, that is sexist. But what happens when someone becomes a public figure because of using their sexuality? Why can’t we discuss their actions and the responsibilities of their actions of a PUBLIC figure without being labeled a pig or sexist. I respect her because she is obviously media savvy or at least has the right people around her for that. But I am tired and disappointed that the mainstream media or uneducated observer somehow makes her some sort of gymnastics representative/icon/model figure. Lets call a pot a pot. She’s a social media influencer who happens to have done gymnastics. Ill be glad when she graduates, unless she takes her COVID year lol.

 

[RedBirdie]

This article was another fluff piece putting her forward as some type of empowered feminist role model. While wearing an $800 body suit, $800 jeans and $3000 earrings.

It’s ELLE. Nearly everyone they profile gets a high end editorial photo shoot with absurdly expensive clothes and jewelry that costs more than my monthly mortgage.

 

[Bob]

Hear hear!

 

[cuuf]

True, and in fairness to Livvy, that comment was more about the credibility of the magazine than Livvy herself. Elle wants to talk about empowerment and women loving themselves for who they are, etc but then presents some uber stylized professional photoshoot that is unrealistic for 99.99% of the women out there.

 

[Sasha]

She says she doesn’t go to classes in person for safety reasons. I hope the money is worth it.

I realise that peoples’ priorities vary, but this sounds like a freaking depressing way to live to me.

Then again, I seem to recall reading that she wants to buy a home in Malibu, so maybe the tradeoff is worth it to her. At the moment, at least.

 

[RedBirdie]

True, and in fairness to Livvy, that comment was more about the credibility of the magazine than Livvy herself. Elle wants to talk about empowerment and women loving themselves for who they are, etc but then presents some uber stylized professional photoshoot that is unrealistic for 99.99% of the women out there.

I just can’t get worked up about it. GQ does the exact same thing with men. Both produce high-quality writing, which I appreciate.

 

[MaryClare]

professional photoshoot that is unrealistic for 99.99% of the women out there.

They aren’t supposed to be realistic. Why would anyone buy a realistic magazine?

 

[flappergirl]

I remember reading that Atler (her own words) needed to go pro to afford gymnastics