Who’s the “Livvy Dunne” of running, is there an equivalent?

Alica*

It's because she looks country sweet... unaffected...a lot like the younger Elle Purrier.

Gross. She’s 25, but looks 35.

Yeah, too bad NIL didn't exist when her picture was like the hottest thing on the internet. She would have made millions.

All worked out pretty good for her though, marrying Ricky Fowler who is worth about 40 million dollars and is a super chill dude. Looks like they have a happy family.

I want to go on record as not knowing any of the people mentioned in any of four pages worth of posts. Is that because I am already (happily) married and not scrolling on my phone?

Would it be possible to know any of these women if a person didn't have social media? I don't, so I don't know a single name. Does that make me the oddball? I think you guys are weird for following women's lives via your phones. That literally sounds nuts to me.

Are any of these women even T&F athletes? And are any of them likely to date you? No and no. So why are you spending hours of your day looking at them on your little phones? Don't you have wives or girlfriends?

There is no equivalent. No athlete with so little sports related accomplishments has ever had this much social media presence.

Parker Valby is both relatively unkown outside our sport, and also far more accomplished athletically than LIvy Dunne. So she isn't comparable on either front.

She's a mediocre gymnast who never was even competitive on the national level. Her best finish was 18th in the US in the all around in 2017 (and the year after the olympics is always the weakest year), and her gymnastics has declined from there.

Equivalent runners might be Sammy Silva or if we are being generous Allie Buchalski. Ever heard of them?

She is a social media influencer and that is what she is getting money for. Her gymnastics is largely irrelevant, thousands are better gymnasts than her.

Aleeya Hutchins kinda looks like Madison Bailey and/or Zendaya.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fdulcedo.com%2Fcelebrity%2Faleeya-hutchins%2F&psig=AOvVaw2rzONp9-msmwz0S_fPsd6g&ust=1712499343999000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CAQQjB1qFwoTCPjXkbXjrYUDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAJ

Why the bitterness? Dunne is the #6 athlete on LSU's #2 ranked gymnastics team. She just scored a 9.9 on floor to help her team advance to next round of NCAA gymnastics championship. She was all American on bars as a freshman. If you want a comp in xc, it would be like being the #6 runner in xc for NAU, BYU or nc state. So she's not an Olympic star, but she is a competent collegiate gymnast on full scholarship at an sec school, putting in 3-4 hours a day of training and is even all-academic. So she is by no means mediocre.

Valby could be a comp, but like most runners has no interest in making an effort on social media. It's a bit sad, but if you don't work to be sexy, and don't post frequently you can't build up a large social media following.

Alica Schmidt is right on. She goes all out on sexy and posts frequently. She's also by your definition 'mediocre', as she can make a German relay team, but not in her individual 400m event.

This is far from equivalent.

There are a total of only 81 gymnastics programs in the NCAA - 62 Division 1, 5 Division 2, and 15 Division 3.

There are 1,082 women's cross country programs in the NCAA - 349 Division 1, 307 Division 2, and 426 Division 3.

True, but all 62 gymnastics teams are fully loaded with scholarship athletes and are actually trying to win, while only about 40 schools make a real effort in xc, and only about 15 actually have a chance.

Dunne and most of the top NCAA gymnasts are former club gymnasts, who choose to give up a shot at US teams for college. (Although with nil, Olympic gymnasts like Suni Lee are doing college and USA). Dunne made several US teams as a youth, but saw she was not going to be competitive for a sr US team and chose the college route.

For me a USA U16 or U18 team member and being #6 on full scholly at #2 LSU isn't mediocre. (Like xc only 5 compete on each apparatus). Also I'm not sure if you realize how strong and athletic you have to be to compete at that level.

shame she graduated right before NIL

there isn't enough pictures on this thread to tell

This is Livie Dunne's performance in the NCAAs

2021: ranked 34th on bars out of only ~500 total atheltes in the NCAA who competed bars, did not make the LSU team on any other event

2022: ranked 95th on bars, did not make the team on any other event

2023: Did not make LSU's lineup in any event

2024: ranked 223 on floor (again out of ~500 athletes), did not make the team on any other event.

On top of the fact that there is so few gymnasts compared to NCAA runners, further almost zero NCAA athletes go on to be professional gymnasts after the NCAA. Most of the best gymnasts don't go to college, or delay college, until after their elite career. A gymnast's prime is 17 - 21.

Many of the best track and field athletes in the world are in the NCAA, but this is not true in gymnastics.

Your info not that good and I'm not sure you regularly follow gymnastics.

lsusports.net

Olivia Dunne

Olivia Dunne

Open link

This should be the end of the thread. It’s Emily Cole

They even have websites for NIL valuations and she’s the top distance runner, though a hurdler is above her:

on3.com

College Womens-track NIL Rankings

A ranking of College Womens-track recruits. These rankings are based on the potential influence they have as an individual.

Open link

She has also said publicly that she makes 6 figures in NIL deals - and that was ~a year ago

Gymnastics is amazingly a headcount sport (yes to balance football) with 12 scholarships required for all schools that sponsor. So 62 schools 732 scholarships.

LSU was 4th at NCAA in 2023 and ranked 2nd this year, so you can imagine how competitive those spots are. Obviously, like running the top schools take the best recruits.

I'll have to dig around, but the base of the pyramid is quite large in gymnastics at youth club level and less so in high school. The girls who make national youth teams and get p5 scholarships are much less than 1% of participants.

You are right that a pro/Olympic chance is usually long gone for collegians, but they are still quite good.

Some quick numbers.

4 million girls 6-18 participate in gymnastics.

The current 4 yr HS group has just under 2000 level 10 gymnasts. Level 10 is the requirement to compete in national youth meets and the minimum talent level for a d1 scholarship.

Only about the top 50 continue training toward pro. (Competing pro team only 5 athletes plus alternates, so only about 20 women in the team USA pool)

USA team also #1 in world recently.

Different than running, many of these aspiring gymnasts leave home to be with a top club and coach. Dunne was lucky a top gym was near her North Jersey home, but was home schooled to focus on gymnastics.

The remainder of the 2000 generally go the college route and compete for those 700ish d1 scholarships.

Dunne at worst would have been in the top 100 of the 700 scholarships, so top 25 in her hs class to be offered a full ride at LSU.

Arguing if she is 50th or 200th is a waste of time. It is still that good but unremarkable level. You know like any 3:59 miler. A great time compared to the masses but to far down to generate any interest…

squigs would have loved NIL. Well at least the current version. Not sure about the 20 year old version…