Golf glamour girl Paige Spiranac leaps to defence of "badass" college gymnast
Paige Spiranac has defended college gymnast Olivia Dunne, who was targeted by a top women's basketball coach for "upholding sexism".
Social media superstar Paige Spiranac has hit out at criticism of gymnast Olivia Dunne after she was called out by a top women's basketball coach for "upholding sexism".
Paige described Dunne as "badass" after Stanford University's Tara VanDerveer lashed out at the athlete in an interview with the New York Times.
Chief of VanDerveer's complaints about Dunne was that she was "upholding sexism" by earning astonishing amounts of money through name, image and likeness [NIL] deals.
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It is estimated that Dunne, 20, rakes in almost $2m a year from sponsors and by posting saucy snaps on social media.
College athletes were allowed to enter into such deals from last year, which has resulted in an increase in some female athletes sharing scantily-clad snaps for their followers.
Paige has hit out at criticism of this ilk before. Taking aim at VanDeerver on Twitter, she wrote:
Paige has dealt with a huge amount of criticism in the past. She has revealed at times she has received death threats.
In October she also opened up on her "failed" career in professional golf, being fat-shamed and how in college some men would only date her for free golf lessons.
I’m so sick of women belittling accomplishments of other women because it’s done differently than they would. @livvydunne is getting hate for making 2 million a year. She’s built a successful business (at 20) all while being a student-athlete. That’s badass.
— Paige Spiranac (@PaigeSpiranac) November 11, 2022
She said of her career:
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Paige now has 3.7m followers on Instagram, which is more than big cat Tiger Woods.
In June, she was voted the "Sexiest Woman Alive" by Maxim.
In response to VanDerveer's comments, Dunne said she was "proud" of her achievements.
Dunne said she was proud of her seven figure income, adding:
Dunne reportedly started gymnastics at the age of three and is now one of the top earners in collegiate sports.
Next page: PGA Tour star Max Homa banters with Paige Spiranac
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