The path of Missouri junior gymnast Sandra Ostad’s athletic career is a bit scrambled.
She has competed for the national team of her native Norway in the Northern European Championships, winning an uneven bars title. She has won national championships in the uneven bars and balance beam.
Here is the wrinkle: She did it all before college.
Ostad grew up and attended secondary school in Oslo, Norway, and, while competing for the club team Oslo Turnforening, she amassed a large amount of national and international experience, all before deciding to migrate across the pond to Columbia.
In the world of international gymnastics, this pattern is the norm. American gold medalists Shawn Johnson and Carly Patterson both competed in the Olympics long before they reached college age.
Ostad’s extensive international experience sets her apart from her Missouri teammates.
“It’s always fun to travel and get experience that way and see other meets and other countries compete,” she said. “It’s given me a lot and has definitely increased my worldview.”
Ostad decided to attend MU after meeting gymnastics assistant coach John Figueroa in London in 2009. Figueroa spoke extensively with Ostad and her family about coming to the United States, saying, among other things, she would be trained for the national championships and Olympics.
“… After talking to him and hearing about the program and the school and all the girls, I was just set,” Ostad said. “I knew, and it just felt right.”
What sets U.S. gymnastics apart from the sport enjoyed in Norway, Ostad said, is the greater emphasis on team performance and how in the U.S., “all the girls have your back.”
Ostad’s first two years at MU featured a vault score of 9.875 against Illinois in 2011 and a 9.700 on bars in the 2010 NCAA Championships, as well as Academic all-Big 12 honors as a sophomore.
Lately, though, Ostad has been slowed by injuries.
Figueroa was putting the junior through two-a-day practices starting May 2011, and according to him, had Ostad on pace to qualify for the Olympics in the vault.
But while competing last summer at the World University Games in Shenzhen, China, she injured her foot.
“We weren’t too comfortable with allowing her to go to the University Games,” said Figueroa, referring to the risk of regression or injury for Ostad. “And look what happened.”
Ostad underwent Lisfranc surgery, meaning a screw was inserted into the dislocated arch of her foot for stabilization.
“(The recovery from a Lisfranc dislocation) is like a six- or eight-month recovery process, and this kid did it in four to five,” Missouri gymnastics coach Rob Drass said.
Ostad emphasized the difficulty of regaining full strength and range of motion but acknowledged that she is “getting there.” She named her teammates, trainers and coaches as her biggest supporters during her rehab process.
Drass hopes Ostad will be able to resume making significant contributions to the team later this season, especially on bars, the event in which she was an exhibitioner against North Carolina State. He added that Ostad could take an all-around role when she reaches full strength.
“For her, (the recovery process) is like riding a bike,” Drass said. “We just had to break the ice again and get her to trust the foot from her injury. I think you’ll see her really start to shine again.”
