OLIVIA DUNNE has lifted the lid on the horror ankle problem that ended her dreams of competing at the Olympics.
The former LSU star has become one of the richest and most recognizable gymnasts in the world, boasting over 13 million followers.
Olivia Dunne has lifted the lid on the ankle problem that killed her Olympic dreams[/caption]
The influencer suffered osteochondritis dissecans and a section of her ankle bone ‘died’[/caption]
Dunne stepped down from the USA programme and picked up college sports[/caption]
She competed for Team USA as a youngster, reaching the Junior Olympics, while being home-schooled by her mom in a bid to reach the very top of the sport.
But Dunne’s Olympic dreams crashed and burned when she was around 16 years old.
The influencer, now 22, suffered osteochondritis dissecans and a section of her ankle bone ‘died’.
She told the ‘What’s Your Story? With Steph McMahon’ podcast: “I was actually competing on a hurt ankle, at the 2018 USA Championships and part of my ankle bone died.
“It’s called an OCD. It just died. So my Olympic dreams died with it… it was so painful. That was one of my first real injuries.”
OCD most commonly affects the knee but also can impact people’s elbows, ankles and other joints.
Dunne added: “I did compete for Team USA in Italy and we won gold.
“That was one of the biggest honors of my life but it was just not the right environment for me and I kept getting hurt.
“So I decided I’m going to go enjoy the sport again in college, go to LSU, heal up and love the sport.”
Osteochondritis dissecans is a condition ‘in which bone underneath the cartilage of a joint dies due to lack of blood flow’, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Dunne stepped down from the national team and decided to compete in NCAA college gymnastics for five seasons with the Louisiana State Tigers.
She said: “It kind of healed a little bit, it stopped bothering me and I went to college after that.
‘I’ve actually never got any surgery, which is kind of crazy for a gymnast and I was thinking ‘If I give myself time to heal, I can heal without surgery.’ So that’s something I take pride in.”
Livvy officially hung up her leotard after LSU lost in the NCAA semifinals in April and has now embarked on a host of new career ventures.
She also opened about how competing in professional sport at such a young age affected her childhood.
Dunne continued: “Competing for the USA was what I wanted to do. So I had to skip those proms and field trips.
“It was give and take but it was very rewarding doing what I did and being able to compete for the United States.
“That’s a really cool thing that I get to say I did, which not a lot of people do.”
Dunne is a Sports Illustrated model away from the gym. She is currently dating MLB pitcher Paul Skenes.
