Olivia Dunne Powered Through an Injury to Nail Her SI Swimsuit 2025 Shoot and the BTS Video Proves It

The gymnast revealed she posed on a fractured kneecap for the very shot that landed her on the cover.

Olivia Dunne was photographed by Ben Watts in Bermuda. Swimsuit by Andi Bagus. Hat by ’47. / Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

There’s no arguing that Olivia Dunne is cover girl material, so it should come as no surprise that the superstar gymnast was one of our four cover models for the SI Swimsuit 2025 issue!

Now, Dunne is no stranger to the SI Swimsuit family, as she’s previously posed for the brand twice before: once in Puerto Rico in 2023 and once in Portugal in 2024. But Dunne revealed this week that she had an added obstacle or two during her 2025 shoot, which she overcame with flying colors.

In a new video shared to her Instagram account, Dunne regaled her 5.3 million followers with the full story of her trip to Bermuda, and the vlog included a couple of plot twists.

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Captioning the post, “Best 24 hrs everrr 👙🩵,” the clip began with the gymnast hopping on a plane and heading to Bermuda right after finishing a competition. After a short two-and-a-half-hour flight, Dunne checked into her luxurious resort room before heading to a fitting to ensure all of the swimsuits she’d wear in the shoot the next day were properly tailored. Adorably, she also showed off the very swimsuit she made the cover in without even realizing it at the time.

Once the fittings were finished, Dunne headed to dinner with her mom to celebrate (which is just deeply relatable), where the two sipped on a couple of delicious-looking drinks and snacked on some tasty-looking ceviche. Early the next morning, she popped out of bed and walked straight to hair and makeup, where the SI Swimsuit team opted for a natural, beachy look. Dunne then made her way onto the sun-soaked shores where her 2025 SI Swimsuit photo shoot officially began.

While showing a few clips of herself posing for the issue, Dunne shared a couple of surprising truths via voiceover. First, she was only in Bermuda for around 24 hours and headed directly back to Louisiana State University after she wrapped for meetings the next morning. And second, she was actually injured while posing for her photos, saying, “Fun fact: I was shooting on a fractured kneecap, so poses like [...] the cover shot kind of hurt.”

Olivia Dunne was photographed by Ben Watts in Bermuda. Swimsuit by Reina Olga. / Ben Watts/Sports Illustrated

Given this information, plenty of Dunne’s followers were quick to hop into her comment section to share some love and appreciation for the multi-hyphenate and all she went through to get us these gorgeous photos:

“being on the cover of sports illustrated and then going back to school the next day? iconic!” One commenter exclaimed.

“when I was a kid i fractured my kneecap & could not walk on that shi (full leg cast). You are a strong soldier,” another commenter commended.

“Little did she know she was shooting her COVER 😉,” SI Swimsuit’s Instagram account cheekily commented (because we can’t help ourselves)!

So, what is there left to say except: cheers to Dunne for nailing the perfect cover shot within 24 hours on a fractured kneecap!

The 2025 SI Swimsuit magazine is available online and at select newsstands now. Order your copy here.

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