Imagine 10,000 fans watching some of the world’s best athletes duking it out for Olympic glory. You would expect a cauldron of noise and a boisterous atmosphere. However, the exact opposite of this was the case during the balance beam finals event, which featured the likes of Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Alice D’Amato, and many others. In fact, Biles and Lee expressed their frustration at the eerie silence during their routines after they received shushes from the crowd as they were cheering for each other. Now Biles’ sister-in-law has also shared the same feelings she went through the same ordeal.

Both Biles and Lee failed to make the podium for the event, which came off as a surprise, especially in Biles’s case, who has had an impressive run at the Olympics. But a bigger surprise was the quietness that enveloped the Bercy Arena, which has a capacity of more than 10,000 and had almost every seat filled. This silence may have been a factor in a handful of gymnasts having trouble with their routines.

Lee, Biles, Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, and Julia Soares all fell during their routines. Even the eventual gold medalist, D’Amato had a shaky start before settling herself. Lee was pretty vocal about the uneasy silence with no music being played and the behavior of some fans who shushed the others for cheering the athletes.

It appears Biles’s sister-in-law, Sammi Biles, was also one of those who couldn’t properly cheer at te event. She took to her X account to express her frustration over the matter and wrote, “You can tell a lot of these spectators / *fans* ain’t ever been to a gymnastics meet/event bc the shushing , looks, and eye rolls at us cheering (for family- I may add) shows. so annoying.” 

For gymnasts, especially those in the USA it is common to have background music playing and hear the crowd cheering and clapping. This can serve as background noise and allow the athletes to focus on their routine. With 10,000 people staring in silence, the gymnasts may have been more cautious leading to a few of them falling on the beam.

The Bercy Arena was a sea of quietness. As each gymnast went for their routine, silence accompanied them leading BC analyst Laurie Hernandez to remark, “I did hear a pin drop, actually.” Speaking after the competition, both Biles and Lee appeared unimpressed with the atmosphere.

Biles said that performing on the beam is always a stressful thing to do. But usually, there is music, noise, and cheering that help the athlete feel a little more comfortable. However, that was not the case during the beam finals. Biles said, “Honestly, we do better in environments when there’s noise going on, because it feels most like practice. So today, like, you can hear some of the Android ringtones going off, the photo clickers, whatever that was, and so, you know, trying to stay in your zone.”

She was unhappy about the lack of music in the background despite requesting it. “And then people start cheering, and then the shushing gets louder. So really, they should be shushed because they’re louder. I don’t know. It was really weird and awkward. And we’ve asked several times if we can have some music or some background noise. So I am not really sure what happened there, but yeah, not our favorite. None of us liked it,” she added. A spokesperson for the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) shared the reason for the ” no music” complaint.

They said the silence was part of the “sports presentation plan at Paris 2024,” and the international federation does not have any requirements or rules as they pertain to background noise or music. Notably, the qualifying, team finals, and the all-around final all had music playing, but oddly the events final was a quiet affair.

Suni Lee also expressed her grievance with the atmosphere and mentioned how it impacted her performance. “It adds to the stress, just because yes, you’re the only one up there, but it just makes you feel like you’re the only one up there. I was feeling the pressure…When I was up there, I was like, ‘People can probably hear me breathing.'”

However, all’s well that ends well. In the final apparatus of women’s gymnastics, Simone Biles and co. came back strongly to own the floor. Scoring 14.166, Rebeca Andrade picked up her maiden gold medal in Paris. Biles was not far behind either. A couple of errors resulted in her score stopping tantalizingly close to Andrade’s. Biles took the silver with 14.133, while Jordan Chiles won bronze when her score was changed to 13.766 after inquiry.

Interestingly, Paris 2024 has had quite a few controversies since the beginning. 

2024 marks an Olympics marred with controversies 

It all started with the environmental concern at Tea’hupo regarding the construction of the judges’ gallery. Environmentalists lashed out at the Olympic committee, alleging they disrupted the natural habitat of the coral reefs in the area. This was followed by one of the biggest issues of the Olympics—the pollution in the River Seine.

With an unusually high reading of E. coli bacteria in the Seine, the entire triathlon faced the threat of being canceled. Luckily, the issue was resolved just in time, and the river was deemed fit for swimming. 

Next up, two huge controversies followed during the opening ceremony. In what was an attempt to represent Dionysus, the Greek God of wine and revelry, the entire setup with a semi-naked blue man on a platter of fruit mimicked ‘The Last Supper’. This resemblance enraged a significant portion of the mass as they called out the authorities for allegedly insulting Jesus Christ and Christianity. 

The controversies haven’t died down during the competition. During the women’s welterweight round of 16 bout Italian boxer Angela Carini quit just 46 seconds into the contest against Algeria’s  Imane Khelif, fueling a gender debate. Khelif, who failed a gender eligibility test at last year’s world championships, has been subjected to online hate over allegations of her being a biological man. Even though she has refuted the allegations and Carini has since apologized, the Olympics will remembered for such instances.

The silent crowd for the beam final has done no favors in enhancing Paris’s reputation as the host city for such a massive event.