Olivia Dunne turned the red carpet into her own fashion runway at the 2024 ESPY Awards.
The LSU gymnast, social media personality and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model commanded attention and confidence at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Thursday, July 11, as she posed for photographers in a gorgeous gold pleated gown featuring a long, twirl-worthy skirt and halter neckline with a cutout. style on July 11.
Dunne told PEOPLE on the red carpet it took her 2.5 hours to get ready for the event, and she was thrilled to be there with her LSU teammates.
“They deserve all the hype just as much as I do — and the Hayley Bryant getting the recognition that she deserves,” she gushed.
As for her decision to return to LSU, she told PEOPLE, “I decided right in the after season actually that I was coming back, but to finally announce it was still like a weight off my chest.”
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Dunne, a New Jersey native, always shows up in style, whether she’s competing on the mats in bejeweled uniforms or sharing outfit-of-the-day photos with her 5 million Instagram followers. Case in point: she recently posted a pic of the chic minidress and heels she wore to Michael Rubin’s star-studded Hamptons White Party over the July 4 holiday.
Her savvy sense of style extends to the red carpet too. When she made her ESPYs debut in 2022, she wore an elegant white halterneck gown with a beaded collar that solidified her trendsetter status.
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Dunne is a sports MVP in the making. This past April, the 21-year-old (who became the top-earning female NIL athlete in July 2021) and her Louisiana State University squad won the LSU’s NCAA gymnastics championship, bringing home the first NCAA women’s gymnastics championship in school history with a near perfect performance in front of more than 7,600 fans in Fort Worth, Texas.
“The first thing I did was start crying right after we won,” Dunne told PEOPLE in May. “I just felt like my team’s hard work had finally paid off, just four years of working so hard towards a common goal.”
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The ESPY Awards are airing live on ABC beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
