Olivia Dunne ‘touches Aly Raisman again’ in gymnastics reunion
It was an Olympic-sized reunion Wednesday for Olivia Dunne and three-time gold medalist Aly Raisman.
Taking to Instagram, Dunne — whose Lady Tigers are set to compete Thursday at the semifinals of the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships — posed for a photo with the former gymnast, who is serving as an ESPN commentator at the event, nearly 12 years after a previous encounter.
“Guys … I just touched Aly Raisman again!” Dunne captioned a newer photo of herself with Raisman, which accompanied an August 2012 Instagram snap from the LSU star that read: “I can’t believe it I touched Aly Raisman!!!!!”
The photo was apparently taken just weeks after Raisman competed at the 2012 Olympics in London, where she won two gold medals for the floor exercise and team competition, as well as bronze for the balance beam.
She earned six Olympic medals across her career, adding three more at the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro: a gold for the team competition and two silver medals for the all-around and floor exercise.
Raisman, now 29, retired from gymnastics in January 2020 and has transitioned into broadcasting.
Dunne, meanwhile, is preparing for her next chapter after college as she nears the end of her senior year at LSU.
The student-athlete and social media juggernaut — who boasts 13 million followers between her Instagram and TikTok pages — celebrated LSU’s fifth SEC Championship title last month, with the Tigers posting a score of 198.075 that matched the team’s highest at the championships, according to the program’s website.
“100% chance of purple reign,” the 21-year-old Dunne gushed on Instagram.
The Tigers, ranked No. 2 nationally, will face off against California, Stanford and Arkansas in the first semifinal session of the championship on Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas.
The teams who place first and second in session one will join the top two squads from the second semifinal session (Alabama, Florida, Utah and the No. 1 ranked Arkansas) in the NCAA Championship Final on Sunday.
LSU finished fourth at the NCAA Championships last April.
