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The Paris Games have produced memorable moments and iconic performances that will live on in Olympic lore.
The gymnastics balance beam final on Monday was not among them. In a field featuring some of the world’s greatest gymnasts including former and reigning all-around Olympic champions Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee and now six-time Olympic medalist Rebeca Andrade, chaos reigned.
Four of the eight competitors including Biles and Lee fell off the beam, dashing their hopes of medaling in the event. As the event carried on, it devolved into one of attrition. Who could stay on the beam?
Andrade didn’t fall. But when she performed last, she gave a conservative performance with enough mistakes that left her off the podium after her top competition had been vanquished.
Italy’s Alice D’Amato also didn’t fall. Her clean, confident effort resulted in a surprising gold medal, the first of any kind for Italy in the Olympic balance beam final. China’s Zhou Yaqin claimed silver, and D’Amato’s Italian teammate Manila Esposito won bronze. They all stayed on the beam.
‘It was too quiet’
After the competition, some of the competitors who did not stay on the beam offered a theory on what went wrong. It was too quiet.
There was no music played during the competition. There was no noise from a hushed crowd when athletes took the beam. NBC analyst and former U.S. Olympian Laurie Hernandez said during the broadcast that she literally heard a pin drop while the competition was happening.
For athletes who practice with music blaring and thrive on the energy of the crowd, this wasn’t an ideal setting. Especially for a competition where the slightest of mental lapses can lead to disastrous results.
“It was really silent when you get up there,” Lee told NBC’s Zora Stephenson after the competition, clearly still rattled. “I don’t like that just because it gives me too much time to think, and I can hear everything. …
“I like the cheering. I don’t like the silence. I don’t like it. I thrive off the crowd. So having the crowd’s energy, especially after you finish your routine is really helpful. It was too quiet. Too quiet. I could literally hear myself breathing. I swear, I felt like everybody could hear me breathing when I was up there.”
Hernandez concurred with Lee’s assessment while noting that gymnasts are used to noise and energy.
“Then to come into a performance and everything be dead silent, it is all a mind game,” Hernandez said. “That’s terrifying. You can start to hear you own thoughts while you’re up there. That’s where the doubt can creep in.”
Where was the music?
The silence for the event final was not the norm during the rest of the Games. Per the Associated Press, music played during all events in qualifying, team finals and the all-around final. The change to silence took place only during event finals.
Biles called the silence “weird and awkward” while speaking with reporters after the conclusion of Monday’s events.
“It was really weird and awkward,” Biles said of the silence, per the Associated Press. “We’ve asked several times if we can have some music, or some background noise. I’m not really sure what happened there, but yeah, not our favorite. None of us liked it.”
Biles, Andrade and USA’s Jordan Chiles went on to compete in the floor exercise final, the last event of the day of of the entire gymnastics competition. This event was not silent. The gymnasts performed their choreographed routines to music they chose, as is the custom of the event. The crowd — as it tends to do during the floor exercise — got involved, responding to both the routines and the music.
The mistakes were much fewer. The top contenders finished on the podium with Andrade claiming gold, Biles winning silver and Chiles securing Bronze.
Source Agencies
