Scores of excited young men descended on a stadium in Kentucky on Friday night to watch a TikTok megastar athlete, despite her not even being able to compete due to an injury.

Olivia Dunne, 20, who is part of the Louisiana State University Tigers women's gymnastics team took the time to sign autographs for her fans, although she and her teammates were escorted into and out of the arena by security guards.

The extraordinary measures came following disturbing scenes last week that saw mobs of young men gathering outside the venue, chanting her name.

Dozens of male spectators still gathered in the Lexington stadium just to be in the very presence of Dunne who has almost 7 million TikTok followers as her teammates faced off against Kentucky.

Many could be seen holding signs supporting Dunne while seated in the stands of the arena. 

LSU and their university implemented increased security measures that included having a security guard travel with the team, stationed outside the team locker room and going to and from the team bus.

'The officer will be there to create a perimeter that keeps everybody safe,' Head coach Jay Clark said.

Clark said he wanted to make sure that fans can seek autographs of the gymnasts but insisted his athlete's safety had to be a priority.

Gymnasts often interact and mingle with their family and friends between routines but Clark suggested that could change in order to better protect the athletes. 

'Things have to change. We just can't expose them,' Clark told the Advocate/Times-Picayune.  'We're looking at some policy changes that will give parents access at a different location to their daughters.'

Dunne, who has a further following of 3 million follower on Instagram had requested fans be respectful when attending future meets. 

By all accounts, Friday night's meet went off without a hitch and there was not a repeat of the disturbing behavior displayed by fans last week. 

'The arena was very full, but there was not a lot of calling or cheering for Dunne. The cheering was what you would expect, mainly for Kentucky. It wasn’t until the end when a mix of young female fans and teenaged boys gathered in the seats around LSU’s final event (the beam) where Dunne was. 

'Dunne signed autographs and such, and was met with a lot of fans asking for autographs and photos. She was being escorted by police. There was no scene outside,' one spectator told DailyMail.com.

After huge crowds of boys called one of her teammates 'Livvy 2.0' and told her 'you'll do' for a photo last weekend, Dunne posted her statement online. 

'I will always appreciate and love the support from you guys, but if you come to a meet, I want to ask you to please be respectful of the other gymnasts and the gymnastics community as we are just doing our job,' Dunne wrote on Twitter. 

Officials were forced to move the LSU team bus to avoid them, while police were stationed in front to help the athletes get to safety.

Dunne has become a social media sensation after posting flirty photos to Instagram and lip-sync videos to TikTok and has amassed a net worth of $2.3 million thanks to her gymnastics and sponsorship deals. 

Olivia, better known as Livvy, is regarded as one of the most influential college athletes. Her fans showed up to support her in Salt Lake City last week even though she wasn't in the line-up.

In addition to her success as an athlete, she has also found fame as a well-known star on TikTok, where she regularly documents her lavish lifestyle with her nearly seven million followers. 

Dunne is now among several female athletes joining the rank of millionaires through name, image and likeness (NIL) deals. 

After college athletes were allowed to enter such deals in 2021, there has been an upward trend of female athletes showing off candid and flirty posts to secure millions of social media followers that boosts endorsement deals. 

Dunne has earned almost $2million-a-year from sponsors and photos on social media. 

After years of competition, she made her elite debut at the 2014 American Classic and went on to join the U.S. national gymnastics team three years later. 

In 2020, she stepped away from elite gymnastics to compete at the college level at Louisiana State University.

Dunne's large wealth stems from this rise as an influencer, where she posts sponsored ads on her social media pages flooded with pics of the gymnast showing off her body. 

Some of her recent deals have been with American Eagle Outfitters and Vuori activewear. 

Dunne grew her social media following by sharing an inside look at her glamorous life as an NCAA gymnast - becoming the most-followed collegiate athlete on the web with more than 2.3 million followers on Instagram and 6.3 million on TikTok. 

But she wasn't initially allowed to make any money from her internet endeavors, due to the NCAA's strict policy about its members selling sponsorships.

That is, until June 30, 2021, when the organization changed its rules, announcing that it would allow its athletes to earn a profit off of their name, image, and likeness.

One month later, Olivia signed with Endeavor Talent Agency's WME Sports, and in September, she announced that she had landed a partnership with activewear brand Vuori - which Forbes reported was worth 'mid-six figures.'

And while she was quickly flooded with opportunities from other companies who wanted to work with her, she told the outlet that she was going to be picky, and only choose ones that were 'authentic to her.'

However, Stanford University's Tara VanDerveer, the most successful coach in women's college basketball, told the New York Times back in November that technological development has allowed for outdated sexist behavior to continue - referencing that the focus of female athlete's physical appearance is step backward.

Dunne issued a defense of her own in the New York Times article, insisting she was proud of her achievement.

She claimed the social media strategy has allowed her to earn a larger salary than what focusing on sports alone would have gotten her.

'Seven figures,' she said. 'That is something I'm proud of. Especially since I'm a woman in college sports.

'There are no professional leagues for most women's sports after college,' she added. 

However, VanDerveer insisted the social media strategy was a 'step back' in her criticism of Dunne. 

'I guess sometimes we have this swinging pendulum, where we maybe take two steps forward, and then we take a step back,' she said. 'We're fighting for all the opportunities to compete, to play, to have resources, to have facilities, to have coaches, and all the things that go with Olympic-caliber athletics.' 

'This is a step back,' she added. 

After the article was published, Dunne called it 'too much,' sharing a screenshot of the article to her Instagram Story, writing, 'Is this too much?' and tagging the outlet.

When asked about her online persona by the outlet, she explained that each person is entitled to 'show as much or as little' of themselves on the internet as 'they want.'

Her mother, Katherine Dunne, also addressed rumors that 'the way Livvy dresses' means she 'deserves' to be treated with disrespect by her fans.