OU women's gymnastics: Olivia Trautman to miss 'first half' of 2021 season due to injury

OU head coach K.J. Kindler revealed in a Thursday Zoom press conference that star junior gymnast Olivia Trautman will miss the "first half" of the 2021 season due to injury.

Though she didn't disclose the exact issue, Kindler said the ailment is related to the heel fracture Trautman suffered prior to the 2020 season’s intrasquad meet. Due to that injury, Trautman was only able to compete in nine meets in 2020, posting two perfect 10s on vault and two 9.9s on bars that set a career high.

“It is not a season-ending injury by any means,” Kindler said Thursday, “but something she has to work back through before she’ll get back in the lineup.”

In the meantime, Kindler said Trautman has made up for her lack of physical presence on the floor as an emotional leader on the sidelines.

“We’re kind of in a similar situation that we were last year without her contributions, but I can tell you this, she’s working extremely hard,” Kindler said. “She’s definitely a spiritual contributor on our team, and definitely somebody who is very positive, fires everybody up and all that good stuff.”

Oklahoma is set to open the 2021 season against Arizona State at 1:45 p.m. Sunday in Norman.