After Pursuing Olympic Dreams, Cosman Now Pursuing Collegiate Dreams

By: Mikia Lawrence

Lilia Cosman's skills as an elite gymnast weren't the barrier to achieving her big Olympic dreams. She could do saltos, wolf turns and side aerials with ease, but she couldn't speak to her teammates on the Romanian National team.

Cosman grew up in Holt, Michigan and is currently a freshman on the Michigan State gymnastics team. She's the youngest daughter of Angelica and Emil Cosman, who immigrated from Romania in 2001. Her dual American-Romanian citizenship from her parents gave a path outside of No. 1 Team USA to the Olympics.

Her language skills were best for listening comprehension, but she wasn't able to speak Romanian when she started working with the national team. At 15, she moved alone to train in her parents' home country. She was a part of the Romanian team's historic journey to the 2024 Paris Olympics, marking the first time the country was in the women's gymnastics competition since 2012.

"I'm very independent, but my speaking was rough and they weren't mean about it but I felt bad," Cosman said. "...When we learned we qualified for the Olympics as a team, I think that really brought us together as girls."

Gymnastics has played a huge role in Cosman's life. She started gymnastics at four, after her parents enrolled her older sister Amanda in classes. She wanted to be just like her, so she started classes and never left. Just 14 years later, Cosman has already competed at the highest level of stress and expectations, but she's not done yet.

"College gymnastics was always the goal," Cosman said. "I wanted to go to college, continue learning and doing gymnastics."

She knew early that both Olympic and collegiate gymnastics were her dreams. Now the 18-year-old is competing right outside her hometown. She visited universities with an open mind and knew when she found the right one.

"MSU was my first visit and then I went to the others and just felt like something was missing," Cosman said. "MSU definitely felt like home."

After her commitment to Michigan State, Cosman's journey to growing as a gymnast was just beginning. The coaching staff was excited to build a strong foundation with her joining the team, but Cosman had a lot of adjustments to make coming into NCAA gymnastics.

"I had two-a-day practices and six days a week, and here we can't go over the 20-hour limit, so you have to be more intentional," she said.

MSU Head Coach Mike Rowe said the difference between NCAA gymnastics and international elites spans both time constraints and training techniques. The coaches are looking for no built-in deductions with Cosman's routines. The biggest challenge is finding a balance between training skills for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics and competing her best routines in collegiate gymnastics.

Through these adjustments, she is still competing at a high skill level, and working to find her place within the team.

"I love the people, I love the coaches, they're a very close knit team," she said. "They can talk to you about anything, so this is just where it felt like I wanted to grow."

Cosman said the blend between having fun and still training at an elite level has been an exciting experience. The coaching staff has made it a key aspect within their coaching style.

"We try to interject the fun back into it that they had when they were four years old and they were cartwheeling over the couch in the living room," Rowe said.

They train to be the best they can, but also emphasize that they want the girls to be themselves. Rowe said Cosman came into the program quiet as a mouse, but as she started spending more time with the team, she found the space to share her personality.

"We tell them, peel back all your layers," he said. "We want you, we don't want any facades, we want to hear about the real you."

Cosman said that the friends, family and memories of gymnastics that she's gained means everything. She loves being able to swing around, laugh and just enjoy the training process with her teammates at MSU. The relationships fostered within the program have allowed Cosman to feel at home and find herself outside of the gym through what she calls 'side quests.'

"I don't like just sitting around. So I was painting, baking, and doing a lot of crafts." she said. "I love just trying new things."

Cosman is exploring the humanities major on a pre-law track, but knows there is more to learn off the mat. She's already faced a ton of pressure and competed at the highest level and she wants people to know she is still learning both about herself and collegiate gymnastics.

"If everybody could get to know me, they would know I'm very empathetic and caring and just a kind person," Cosman said. "Obviously there's so much more outside of gymnastics, but I think I'm also still trying to find that because I am more than a gymnast, and I have to remind myself of that sometimes."

Michigan State University Athletics

After Pursuing Olympic Dreams, Cosman Now Pursuing Collegiate Dreams

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