Olivia Dunne Opens Up: “Watching videos of what my body was capable… like it’s my dead wife.”
Olivia Dunne — former collegiate gymnast — has recently shared deep-rooted emotional struggles tied to how her body has changed since stepping away from elite gymnastics. The 22-year-old, who announced her retirement from competition earlier in 2025 after suffering an avulsion fracture in her kneecap, reflected candidly on what she described as a painful loss of her former physical capabilities.
In a moving Instagram post, Dunne posted clips of herself performing tumbling passes during a past gymnastics practice and captioned the video with a haunting line: “Watching videos of what my body was capable of a year ago, like it’s my dead wife.” She added, “Like how tf did I do that.” The rawness of the moment struck a chord — a visceral recognition of how much has changed.
Her retirement was not just a career shift, but a stark physical and emotional turning point. The knee injury — an overuse-induced avulsion fracture of her patella — ended her senior season at LSU Tigers and forced her to walk away from the sport she’s known nearly all her life.
The Inner Conflict: Athlete vs. Body Image
For years, Dunne’s body wasn’t just about strength — it was calibrated for elite-level performance, flexibility, and precision. She’s admitted that being a gymnast meant enduring constant pressure about body image, especially during puberty. The leotard, the scrutiny, the comparisons — they took a toll. “Anorexia and body image issues are the highest in artistic sports,” she once said when describing her experiences.
After retirement, the shift hasn’t been easy. The body she once knew — powerful, conditioned, capable — feels distant and foreign. That loss isn’t just physical: for Dunne, it’s wrapped up in identity, memories, and purpose. Viewing old videos brings a flood of grief for what was lost. The phrase “like it’s my dead wife” captures that sense of mourning.
Trying to Heal: A Long Road to Self-Acceptance
Despite the difficulty, Dunne has tried to embrace new paths — modeling, social media, and public advocacy. After stepping away from gymnastics, she’s pivoted toward being a public figure outside of sport.
But body-image issues haven’t disappeared — she admits they linger. In an interview she said she’s still working toward confidence, acknowledging “it’s okay not to be perfect.” Modeling for Sports Illustrated helped her see that beauty and self-worth aren’t always tied to athletic form — but acceptance is an ongoing journey.
She has openly talked about the conflict she once faced: wondering whether to “fuel my body like a model or like an athlete.” That tension between aesthetic expectations and athletic demands wasn’t sustainable — and part of what drove her to step away.
Why Her Story Resonates
Dunne’s vulnerability hits because it reveals something many people — athletes or not — rarely admit: losing a body you love can feel like losing a version of yourself. For elite athletes, whose identities are often built around performance, that can be deeply destabilizing.
Her courage in speaking out — about grief, identity, and body image — opens a conversation about the toll high-performance sports take, and the often-overlooked aftermath of retirement. It’s a reminder that changing bodies aren’t just about looks; they can represent a painful loss, a redefinition of self, and an emotional reckoning.
