Category: Gymnastics

How Olivia Dunne fared in LSU Gymnastics’ first meet of 2025

Here’s how LSU’s Olivia Dunne fared in the first meet of 2025

LSU Gymnastics kicked off its quest to defend its national title on Saturday. The No. 2 Tigers defeated Iowa State at home 197.300-194.100.

[autotag]Olivia Dunne[/autotag] scored above 9.8 in both of her events against the Cyclones. The fifth-year senior earned a 9.875 on the floor and a 9.825 on the balance beam. Among her teammates, Dunne’s floor score tied for third and her beam score tied for second.

LSU’s Aleah Finnegan earned the highest score in both events. Finnegan posted a 39.725 in the all-around, the best mark on the night.

Dunne appeared in nine meets last season competing in uneven bars and on the floor. She averaged 9.857 on the floor and 9.838 on the bars, posting career highs in both categories during 2024. She is a two-time Academic All-American and looks to end her career donning the purple and gold on a high note.

Dunne’s boyfriend and former LSU pitcher Paul Skenes was in attendance for Saturday’s meet. The two attend LSU football games together and Dunne was often spotted watching Skenes take the field with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Jay Clark reveals injury status of star gymnast Haleigh Bryant

LSU may be without one of its top athletes when gymnastics opens its season this week

LSU’s top gymnast may be sidelined with an injury for the foreseeable future.

Head coach [autotag]Jay Clark[/autotag] reported on Monday that [autotag]Haleigh Bryant[/autotag] is dealing with an elbow injury. She is considered week-to-week and is unlikely to compete in the Tigers’ season opener this weekend.

No. 2 LSU is slated to host Iowa State in Baton Rouge on Friday for its season opener. The Tigers come into the season as the reigning national champions, the first national title in program history.

The 2024-25 season is Bryant’s fifth with the Tigers, and she is one the most decorated athletes in the sport. Through four seasons, she has 94 individual titles, 27 All-American nods, and 18 perfect 10s. The latter two marks are the most in LSU history.

In 2024, Bryant won the NCAA All-Around title and was named SEC Gymnast of the Year. As a junior, Bryant competed in the all-around for every meet and became the first LSU gymnast to average a 9.900+ for all four events in a season. She burst onto the college gymnastics scene in 2021 and ended it as one of the most decorated freshmen in school history, punctuated by an NCAA vault title.

Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens shared an adorable handshake before Bears-Vikings

The couple had a moment before Monday Night Football.

The Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings squared off on Monday night in Minneapolis, with the home team improving to 12-2 in a decisive 30-12 win. While Minnesota has been thriving, Chicago has had a tough go of things, losing seven straight games heading into the Monday Night Football contest. Before the game, Bears safety Jonathan Owens met with his wife on the sidelines.

Owens has been married to Olympic gymnast Simone Biles in April of 2023, and she’s frequently in attendance at her husband’s games. Biles wished her husband good luck, then the couple adorably executed a complicated handshake before parting ways.

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Olivia Dunne responds to Sabrina Carpenter breakup rumors with savage TikTok video

This is some serious drama.

OK, we’ve got a lot to unpack here with a whole thing involving LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne and singer Sabrina Carpenter. Let’s dive in.

There’s a report from People that Carpenter and actor Barry Keoghan have broken up for now, because a source said “they are both young and career-focused, so they’ve decided to take a break.”

But unconfirmed rumors started popping up that Keoghan had allegedly cheated on Carpenter. Fingers started pointing at Breckie Hill, an influencer, who has feuded publicly with Dunne. Got all that?

Which brings us to a TikTok Dunne posted and commented on recently. Here you go:

@livvy

I just sit back and laugh

♬ original sound – ᴋɪʀsᴛʏ

One comment from Dunne reads: “I love Sabrina… it’s about who homewrecked her relationship.”

That explains all that.

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A tearful Jordan Chiles says she still has the Olympic bronze medal she’s fighting to keep

As she fought back tears, Jordan Chiles explained why she still has her bronze medal.

Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles still has the Olympic bronze medal that dominated headlines this summer. In a tearful interview with Today, Jordan spoke about her emotional journey after the Paris Olympics and why she’s still holding on to the medal.

Many may never know what Chiles has been experiencing behind the scenes as she continues to fight for the right to keep the bronze medal from her floor routine after it was stripped away. But, on Monday, she spoke with Hoda Kotb about her continued battle and why it means so much.

During a tearful interview, Chiles revealed what’s happened since Paris, the support she’s received and why her bronze medal means more to her than even the gold medal she won with Team USA. Here’s part of what she shared in a nearly ten-minute segment:

“It was like a cherry on top. My redemption tour going into Paris was — ‘Yes.’ Coming back with a gold, coming back with the understanding that I was able to go out there and be the best version of myself — With this floor medal it was like, ‘Wow, I never expected myself to make a floor final’…

“Plus it was an all Black podium. That was history being made. I was very glad to be a part of…”

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Florida gymnastics 2025 schedule unveiled, plus postseason dates

The regular-season schedule opens up on Friday, Jan. 10 inside the O’Connell Center.

The Florida gymnastics team’s regular-season schedule for the 2025 campaign was unveiled on Friday, revealing the Gators’ 10 match dates for a total of 12 opponents. Eight of those matchups will be against fellow Southeastern Conference schools.

The regular-season schedule opens up on Friday, Jan. 10 inside the O’Connell Center with three non-conference opponents arriving in Gainesville for a four-pack of gymnastics action. The Michigan State Spartans, Nebraska Cornhuskers and Northern Illinois Huskies will all be in Gainesville for the Gators’ Club Gym Night.

The SEC slate begins the following week on the road in Baton Rouge against the LSU Tigers.

Florida faces five programs that earned bids — as did the Gators — in last season’s NCAA women’s gymnastics tournament, with four of them having advanced alongside them to the championships semifinals. The Orange and Blue ultimately finished fourth in the championship finals with LSU taking home the top prize.

Take a look below at what Florida faces in the 2025 regular season, along with the postseason schedule for next spring.

Gators Gymnastics 2025 schedule

Date Opponent Site Time (ET)
1/10  Michigan St, Nebraska, Northern Illinois Home 6:45 p.m.
1/17  LSU Away 7:30 p.m.
1/24  Georgia (Alumni Night) Home 5:45 p.m.
2/2  West Virginia Away 2 p.m.
2/7  Arkansas Away 7 p.m.
2/14  Auburn (Gators Link to Pink) Home 8:15 p.m.
2/21  Oklahoma Away 9 p.m.
2/28  Missouri (Equality Night) Home 5:45 p.m.
3/7  Alabama Away TBA
3/14  Kentucky (Senior Night) Home 6:45 p.m.

2025 Postseason Dates

March 22  Southeastern Conference Championships
April 2-6  NCAA Regional Championships
April 2-5  Sites: Penn State & Utah
April 3-6  Sites: Alabama & Washington
April 17 & 19  NCAA Championships (Dickies Arena / Fort Worth, TX)

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Florida to host 2028 NCAA Gymnastics Regional in O’Connell Center

2028 will be the 15th NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Regional held in the O’Connell Center. 

The NCAA announced over 240 host site selections for various collegiate sports on Wednesday, including women’s college volleyball. Among those who earned the prestigious honor was the Florida volleyball program, which was picked to host the NCAA Gymnastics Regional Championships in 2028.

The regional sites for the 2027 and 2028 NCAA gymnastics postseasons were featured in the announcement. Fort Worth, Texas, remains the site for the 2027 NCAA Championships, with the 2028 final site to be announced at a later date.

This will be the 15th NCAA Regional held in the O’Connell Center.

“This is terrific news that NCAA Regional action is returning to Gainesville in 2028,” Florida head coach Jenny Rowland offered.

“It was a great experience for our team to play host to regionals this past season and Gator fans turned out with almost double the attendance of any other region site,” she continued. “This is an opportunity for gymnastics fans to cheer some of the nation’s top gymnasts as they compete for a national championship berth.”

Upcoming NCAA Gymnastics Regional & Championship Sites

Year Regional Sites/Dates NCAA Championships (Host)
2025 April 3-5 Dickies Arena, Ft. Worth, Texas (Texas Woman’s University)
Alabama
Penn State
Utah
Washington
2026 April 2-4 Dickies Arena, Ft. Worth, Texas (Texas Woman’s University)
Arizona State
Kentucky
Louisiana State
Oregon State
2027 TBA Dickies Arena, Ft. Worth, Texas (Texas Woman’s University)
Arkansas
Denver
Georgia
NC State
2028 TBA TBA
Auburn
Florida
Michigan
Utah

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Olympic gold medalist Hezly Rivera commits to LSU gymnastics

The future of LSU’s gymnastics program is in good hands.

The defending national champion LSU gymnastics team could be poised for a repeat with the top gymnast in the nation, [autotag]Haleigh Bryant[/autotag], returning for one final season in 2025.

But even when Bryant and other stars move on, the future of the program seems to be in very good hands.

On Thursday, coach [autotag]Jay Clark[/autotag] and the Tigers picked up a massive commitment from Olympic gold medalist [autotag]Hezly Rivera[/autotag], a current high school junior who competed as a member of the Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics this past summer.

Rivera ultimately did not compete as part of the team final, where the United States won gold, but she still received a gold medal as a member of the team while competing individually in the bars and beam.

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“I am so blessed & excited to announce that I have verbally committed to Louisiana State University (LSU) on a full athletic scholarship,” she wrote in a post on Instagram. “thank you Jesus for this wonderful blessing! thank you to my family, coaches, and teammates for helping me throughout this process. I also want to thank all the girls, coaches, and staff at LSU for everything”

Rivera is only 16 and has her sights set on a return to the Olympics when they’re hosted in Los Angeles in 2028. In the meantime, she will look to keep LSU among the ranks of elite gymnastics programs.

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Flavor Flav gifted Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles a bronze clock in heartwarming moment at MTV VMAs

Can’t take this one away.

Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles had a heartbreaking end to her time in Paris this summer. The IOC stripped Chiles of her floor routine bronze medal over a scoring issue following a series of controversial decisions by the judges and gymnastics governing bodies.

Chiles took to the stage at the MTV Video Music Awards on Wednesday alongside Flavor Flav, and the Public Enemy rapper had a surprise for the athlete. Flav was extremely involved in the Summer Olympics, sponsoring the women’s and men’s water polo teams and attending several other events.

After the ruling came down that would take Chiles’ medal, Flav told the gymnast that he would give her one of his iconic bejeweled clocks. He came through, presenting Chiles with a bronze bedazzled medal replacement and telling her that he’d also cover the prize money ($15,000).

It was a wonderful moment.