The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History was filled with famous gymnasts Thursday night at an OU sponsored event for students to meet gymnasts competing this weekend at the Nadia Comaneci International Invitational.

The competition in Oklahoma City is held in honor of Comaneci, the Romanian-born Olympic legend who calls Norman home.

“I have always thought international sports is something that needs to be appreciated,” said Zach Messitte, OU’s Vice Provost for International Programs. “When you get gymnastics or basketball or soccer, it is people competing. We aren’t talking about war and politics. They are talking about people competing against each other and learn from each other. I have always thought international sporting events are really important in understanding the world. We have a bunch of students who have heard about this and want to meet students from all over the world. We are thrilled that we were able to do this.”

Comaneci is organizing the competition with husband Bart Conner, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist and OU alumnus. The couple run the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy in Norman.

“We have 740 girls competing from eight different countries,” Conner said. “Most of the kids are from the U.S. but there is a busload coming from Ukraine, Romania, Israel, Venezuela, Mexico and Canada.”

Among the gymnasts visiting OU was 2008 Olympic floor exercise champion Sandra Izbasa of Romania.

“I came here last year and won the Nadia Comaneci award,” said Izbasa, speaking with Comaneci as an interpreter. “After the Beijing Olympics I came here and competed in the Nadia Invitational last February.”

Izbasa will not be competing this weekend, as she tore her Achilles’ tendon in September, but was invited to attend a guest. She said she is still unsure if she will be competing in the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

“I think this event is pretty neat that we are inviting international people to come here, I mean we are obviously trying to be more friendly to the international community and it is nice to have them invited, especially through a sport like gymnastics that the university is so well known for worldwide,” said Jeremy Isenberg, OU international and area studies senior. “Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci, some of OU’s finest people, are on the international program’s center board of visitors, so they help the students out and we help them out.”

Comaneci, who has lived in Norman since the early 1990s, said they have sponsored several OU students during the years.

“We have a lot of friends and people that come from different countries, especially from Romania, that ended up going through the university,” said Comaneci, a five-time Olympic gold medalist.

The elite session of the Nadia Comaneci International Invitational will be 7 p.m. Saturday at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City.