Scenes of young men screaming for college gymnastics star Olivia Dunne have been described as "scary, disturbing and cringey", with the gymnast herself telling them to show some respect.

Fans screamed "give us Livvy" and "we want her" outside a meet between Dunne's Louisiana State University (LSU) and Utah, in which she did not actually compete.

Dunne stood on the side of the mat — cheering on her teammates competing in their season-opening loss to Utah over the weekend — while fans in the stands chanted for her and held up signs and even a cardboard cut-out of her on the red carpet at the ESPY sport awards.

The 20-year-old was seen taking selfies with the fans after the competition, but took issue with their conduct.

One of the signs held by those in the stands read "LSU without Livvy isn't even top 25", using her social media handle and referring to the sixth-placed ranking of Dunne's college.

The 2008 Beijing Olympic silver medal-winning gymnast and now broadcaster, Samantha Pezsek, shared a video of the scenes greeting her as she left the Jon M Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, saying the way the fans were clamouring for Dunne was "so scary and disturbing".

Commentator and two-time Olympic medallist Kathy Johnson Clarke said she was also unsettled by the desperation of those at the arena for Dunne.

"They were screaming to me 'Are you Livvy's mom? Are you Livvy's mom?'," she tweeted.

Local reporter Josh Furlong said LSU had to move their team bus and had police as security to avoid the group, while LSU coach Jay Clark told local media a security officer would travel with the team for the rest of the season.

"[They] will be there to create a perimeter that keeps everybody safe," he told The New Orleans Advocate/Times-Picayune.

"We want to be accessible to our fans with autographs and kids, but we also don't want to bury our heads in the sand. We want to make sure everybody is safe at all times."

He said the practice of gymnasts going into the stands to greet family and friends could not go ahead if fans were not brought under control.

"We're looking at some policy changes that will give parents access at a different location to their daughters."

So, who is Olivia Dunne and how did the fandom get so raucous?

Who is Olivia Dunne?

The gymnast was on the elite pathway towards the Olympic level when she was earmarked by Louisiana State University (LSU) at about 10 or 11 years of age.

Like so many top junior gymnasts, injury slammed the brakes on her Olympic dreams, although — with a bit of perspective — she has said she was happy to avoid the "dysfunctional" US Gymnastics program.

"I got hurt when I was 15 or 16," she said on a Barstool Sports podcast.

"My bone had died in my ankle and it fractured, so I kind of realised, maybe, this is not for me anymore and, maybe, I should just go to college and be healthy and be happy."

She said she blew up on Instagram and TikTok when she posted videos during the COVID-19 quarantine, and that precipitated brand deals and lucrative contracts with management agencies, which grew her profile even more.

However, just a few years ago that would not have been an option.

How NIL rules blasted the @Livvy brand into the stratosphere

US college athletes never used to be allowed to earn money from their exploits, and the logic behind not paying them started off sound enough.

Putting literal children at the centre of bidding wars is an ugly thought, and if the biggest schools could simply pay the most for the best athletes, they would just always win.

However, once the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) competitions became some of the most profitable — from a broadcast and gambling perspective — the first part of the term "student athlete" took a back seat for many.

A lot of college stars still study and, like communications major Dunne, can be recognised for their superior performance in their studies with places on student-athlete academic honour rolls.