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.
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.
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.
I'm not bitter. Its great that she is making money and getting this social media attention.
As far as I know there are no sub-elite (or barely elite) level track athletes who are rocking social media like Dunne. She might be the second most famous gymnast in the US! Yet many elite gymnasts and people who are die hard fans of elite level gymnastics don't even know who she is.
The post asked if there is anyone comparable. And there is no onee. Can you think of any other sport where the second most famous athlete isn't even known by many of the die hard fans of the sport? I just don't think you can.
Good on her for her social media work. Nick Symmons is probably the closest to her on the social media front in distance running. He's far less accompished in social media than Dunne, but more accomplished in his sport. But he's probably the only social media runner who is more famous through social than his athletic accomplishments. So if you had to name a person, I'd name him, but he is far off.
I should say, that by "team" I clearly meant starting line-up, meaning top 5 on the team in that event. To get a NCAA ranking you have to regularly compete in the event. Its clear she is on the team, everyone knows that. You can look up her NCAA ranking if you like.
I don't follow NCAA gymnastics outside of the NCAA D1 championships (which she only competed in a few times, in only one or two events). I am a die hard fan of elite level gymnastics. I didn't know who Dunne was until Nick Symmons mentioned her last year.
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.
I'm not bitter. Its great that she is making money and getting this social media attention.
As far as I know there are no sub-elite (or barely elite) level track athletes who are rocking social media like Dunne. She might be the second most famous gymnast in the US! Yet many elite gymnasts and people who are die hard fans of elite level gymnastics don't even know who she is.
The post asked if there is anyone comparable. And there is no onee. Can you think of any other sport where the second most famous athlete isn't even known by many of the die hard fans of the sport? I just don't think you can.
Good on her for her social media work. Nick Symmons is probably the closest to her on the social media front in distance running. He's far less accompished in social media than Dunne, but more accomplished in his sport. But he's probably the only social media runner who is more famous through social than his athletic accomplishments. So if you had to name a person, I'd name him, but he is far off.
Few people would be willing to put themselves out there like Nick Symmonds does. Likewise, few athletes would be willing to respond "it's a beam" flatly to a random poster saying, "tryna be that bar." like Olivia Dunne did. These are two elite athletes who have decided to be real.
I think your Dunne/Symmonds comparison is spot on.
I should say, that by "team" I clearly meant starting line-up, meaning top 5 on the team in that event. To get a NCAA ranking you have to regularly compete in the event. Its clear she is on the team, everyone knows that. You can look up her NCAA ranking if you like.
I don't follow NCAA gymnastics outside of the NCAA D1 championships (which she only competed in a few times, in only one or two events). I am a die hard fan of elite level gymnastics. I didn't know who Dunne was until Nick Symmons mentioned her last year.
You probably think I'm Livvy's mom.😁
I'm not, and I'm not really even her fan. She built her following basically with a combo of 'the girlfriend experience' plus 'the gymnast fetish'. A main reason there aren't runners like her, is they don't want to stoop to that level. Suzy Favor the exception.
I'm just defending that she's not a mediocre gymnast. It's like people saying Mary Cain sucked as a pro, but not realizing she was US champ and made a world final at 1500.
To me any runner who gets a full ride to Oregon, Colorado, NAU, OSU etc and completes their 4 years on the team is by definition not mediocre.
That's what she is doing. She trains all around still and is their #1 sub this season, which is why she competed this week at NCAA regionals. Freshman year she was a 'starter' on bars and made all-american at the national meet.
I guess the question is if someone like Dudek, Cook, Hutchins or Starliper, who earned running scholarships, but aren't consistent NCAA stars are 'mediocre'.
Not claiming she's an Olympian, just that she was a national level youth and earned (and fulfilled) a 4 yr full scholarship to LSU.
The post asked if there is anyone comparable. And there is no onee. Can you think of any other sport where the second most famous athlete isn't even known by many of the die hard fans of the sport? I just don't think you can.
The answer here is simple in other sports, it's any female athlete who chose to be sexual to make some money.
Anna Kournikova -Tennis
Gabby Reece - volleyball
Alex Morgan - soccer
Paige van Zandt - MMA
Haley Cavinder - NCAA basketball
Natalie Gulbis, Paige Spirinac - golf
Michelle Jenneke, Hanah Cunliffe, Shacarri Richardson, Lolo Jones - track
Claire Thomas, Zuska Light, Karina Elle - fitness
on a slightly lower scale, it's all the female athletes who have appeared in Playboy, Si swim, or ESPN body issue.
It's of course also what drives all the interest in Valby, but she's not out there every day flaunting it.
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.
But as you said, all the teams are pretty good in gymnastics (all 62 teams going for the win), so #6 on any team, even the #2 team probably isn't a top 50-100 NCAA gymnast. She certainly wasn't mediocre for her age back in 2015-2017. She just peaked as a junior, just like a girl who finishes top 15 at NXN is definitely not mediocre in highschool XC. But if she never gets better, she eventually becomes mediocre relative to the elites and NCAA athletes. Mediocre isn't an insult. Obviously she isn't mediocre compared to a random person or a club gymnast, just compared to elite level gymnasts.
I should say, that by "team" I clearly meant starting line-up, meaning top 5 on the team in that event. To get a NCAA ranking you have to regularly compete in the event. Its clear she is on the team, everyone knows that. You can look up her NCAA ranking if you like.
I don't follow NCAA gymnastics outside of the NCAA D1 championships (which she only competed in a few times, in only one or two events). I am a die hard fan of elite level gymnastics. I didn't know who Dunne was until Nick Symmons mentioned her last year.
You probably think I'm Livvy's mom.😁
I'm not, and I'm not really even her fan. She built her following basically with a combo of 'the girlfriend experience' plus 'the gymnast fetish'. A main reason there aren't runners like her, is they don't want to stoop to that level. Suzy Favor the exception.
I'm just defending that she's not a mediocre gymnast. It's like people saying Mary Cain sucked as a pro, but not realizing she was US champ and made a world final at 1500.
To me any runner who gets a full ride to Oregon, Colorado, NAU, OSU etc and completes their 4 years on the team is by definition not mediocre.
That's what she is doing. She trains all around still and is their #1 sub this season, which is why she competed this week at NCAA regionals. Freshman year she was a 'starter' on bars and made all-american at the national meet.
I guess the question is if someone like Dudek, Cook, Hutchins or Starliper, who earned running scholarships, but aren't consistent NCAA stars are 'mediocre'.
Not claiming she's an Olympian, just that she was a national level youth and earned (and fulfilled) a 4 yr full scholarship to LSU.
I think we were just using different definitions of the word mediocre. I meant mediocre at the elite level. She is probably in the top couple of thousand gymnasts in the world, which is really hard to do and is very good. She has done some good NCAA routines on UB and floor for one of the best NCAA teams in the nation.
I think your comparison to the #6/7 runner with a full ride at NAU or Oregon etc. is a good one. They are obviously great runners, but I'd still call them mediocre compared to elite runners.
I'm a hardcore fan of elite gymnastics. Livvy Dunne is nowhere near Mary Cain in terms of athletic accomplishments. I of course would say Mary Cain did some good elite work on the track and at the top of her career - she was a high quality elite level runner, very far from mediocre. Livvy Dunne hasn't even done the equivalent of making a USATF final. The best she's ever done is made the equivalent of the qualification round of a USATF national champs - that was at her peak.
In summary I don't think we disagree how good Livvy Dunne is, and I don't think your her mom, I think we were just using different baselines for the word mediocre.
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