Simone Biles said that the Paris Olympics gymnastics’ balance beam final on Monday was “really weird and awkward” due to the audience’s silence, which she described as unusual for such an event.
“You’re trying to stay in your zone, and then people start cheering and then the shushing gets louder, so really, they should be shushed because they’re louder,” Biles told reporters of the balance beam final after it ended.
“It was really weird and awkward. And we’ve asked several times if we can have some music, or some background noise, so I’m not really sure what happened there. But, yeah, not our favorite. None of us liked it.”
Biles, who placed fifth on the apparatus, said that gymnasts “do better in environments when there’s noise going on because it feels most like practice.”
That sentiment was echoed by her coach, Cecile Landi, who told Reuters that the Paris “crowd was great except for the ‘shushing’ on the beam.”
“I’ve competed in France a long time and it was the first time that I heard anybody shush,” Landi told USA Today. “So it was really strange. I don’t know if they thought the athletes wanted it to be quiet. I can tell them now: No. They did not. They do not like it.”
Music was played during qualifying, team finals and all-around finals for both the men and women during the Paris Games. The atmosphere changed during individual event finals, when the music was shut off for all the competitors in the Bercy Arena.
Fellow U.S. gymnast Sunisa Lee also made note of the crowd on Monday when she spoke with reporters after the event. “We were just talking about how annoying it was to be shushed,” Lee said.
“Even watching the other finals, I was like, ‘It’s a little too quiet in here,’” Lee told reporters. “When I was up there, I was like, ‘People can probably hear me breathing.’
“The pressure was definitely on,” she added. “I don’t know if you could tell, but a lot of people were definitely feeling it. I think it was the crowd but also just knowing that we’re so close to being done and just adding that extra stress of wanting to end it off the right way.”
The 21-year-old six-time Olympic medalist said “It adds to the stress, just because it’s like you, yes, you’re the only one up there. So I was feeling the pressure.”
International Gymnastics Federation senior communications manager Meike Behrensen said in an email that the decision not to have music was “part of the sport presentation plan at Paris 2024.”
Soares, of Brazil, also told reporters that “each gymnast has their own way to interpret the atmosphere, and likes a different type of atmosphere,” adding that “for my experience, when the gymnasium is quiet, any noise can bother and can interfere.”
