By Karen Braun
PARIS (Reuters) – There was an awkward vibe within Paris’ Bercy Arena during the error-riddled Olympic balance beam final on Monday as the crowd did not seem to be in tune with the gymnasts’ preferred atmosphere while performing on the treacherous apparatus.
“The crowd was great except for the ‘shushing’ on the beam,” Simone Biles’ coach Cecile Landi told Reuters on the last day of artistic gymnastics competition.
Although well meaning, some audience members kept trying to silence the athletes when they were cheering each other on as well as support from other spectators and it did not have the intended effect.
After completing her performance, which featured a fall, Biles looked really annoyed and bewildered and could be heard asking her teammate Sunisa Lee: “Why are they shushing?”
“It was really weird and awkward, not our favorite. None of us liked it,” Biles told reporters after finishing fifth of eight on the beam despite having qualified in second place.
Although it might seem counterintuitive, gymnasts often prefer noisy arenas, even on an apparatus as precarious as the 10cm-wide beam, since it helps the athlete to focus more on the task at hand.
“Honestly, we do better in environments when there’s noise going on because it feels most like practice,” Biles said.
While several gymnasts are seen competing simultaneously on multiple apparatus during the team and all around finals, the format of apparatus finals means only one individual competes at any given time.
It adds to the pressure as each performer is keenly aware that every set of eyes in the arena are centered upon them.
“You could feel the tension in the room. I mean, the crowd shushing us for cheering like we were, we didn’t like that because it’s just so silent in there,” Lee, one of four finalists to suffer a fall off the beam, said after placing sixth.
“I love hearing my teammates cheer for me.”
The athletes apparently had attempted to avoid this eerie aura.
“We’ve asked several times if we could have some music or some background noise, so I am not really sure what happened there,” Biles said.
Bronze medal winner Manila Esposito, who along with her teammate and gold medallist Alice D’Amato delivered Italy their first ever Olympic balance beam medals, was able to find some silver lining.
“There was a lot of silence in the gym and it was a little bit more stressful because of this, but it was nice because when we finished the exercise, it was even louder than usual.”
(Additional reporting by Rory Carroll; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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