PARIS — The final of the balance beam event in the 2024 Paris Olympics occurred at Bercy Arena which has a capacity of 10,000 but was almost silent. Except for some coughs or clicks from camera devices, everything was virtually still; like NBC analyst Laurie Hernandez said, one could hear a pin drop.
For American gymnasts Simone Biles and Suni Lee who did not make it to podium; silence made it harder. According to them the environment was “strange and uncomfortable”, while anyone who cheered or applauded was silenced by other spectators. In a way it added onto their stress levels as there was no background noise.
According to International Gymnastics Federation, silence formed part of “sports presentation plan” for Paris 2024 without any actual restrictions against background noises. This made gymnasts used to lively surroundings and sound tracks feel disquieted at times. It became evident that this was indeed unusual according to Cecile Landi (Biles’ coach) who stated that the other athletes would have preferred a different typical energetic setting.