Gymnastics superstar Olivia Dunne is one of the most popular female athletes on the planet right now and is the highest-paid female athlete in all of college sports thanks to her massive social media following. And for that reason, it sounded like she just didn’t have time for relationships.
That no longer appears to be the case, as former LSU pitcher Paul Skenes, who was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the No. 1 overall pick in June’s 2023 MLB Draft, confirmed their relationship during an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette earlier this week.
According to Skenes, who is currently with the Bradenton Marauders, Pittsburgh’s Single-A affiliate, the couple met through his best friend, who happens to be dating, Elena Marenas, Dunne’s roommate and gymnastics teammate at LSU.
“Just a small-world type of thing,” Skenes said of their relationship.
According to The New York Post, talk of their relationship has heated up over the past few months, as Dunne shared a photo of herself wearing a Pirates hat while in Bradenton. She later was spotted in attendance at Skenes’ debut with the Marauders, which took place earlier this week.
“It’s nice, for sure,” Skenes said, per the Post-Gazette. “It can be a pain in the butt sometimes, to be honest, in terms of actually going somewhere. If one of us went out in Baton Rouge [La.] by ourselves, there’s probably gonna be someone there asking for something — picture, autograph, whatever.
“It’s nice to be able to have that conversation. She does get it. I do wish she could come to a baseball game and just enjoy it. It does irk me. I don’t have any control over it. She really doesn’t either. I’m sure it’ll get better as I go up levels, but that’s something I want for her.”
This certainly won’t be the last time we hear about Dunne and Skenes. Though, the couple understandably want to keep their relationship out of the public eye.
[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via The New York Post]
