Bercy Arena was so quiet you could hear a gymnast drop on Monday during the balance beam finals at the Paris Olympics .
Four gymnasts, including Americans Simone Biles and Suni Lee , fell off the beam ― and the lack of music and a hushed crowd may have played a part, The Associated Press reported .
“It was really weird and awkward,” Biles said, according to AP. “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.”
“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,” Lee added.
Lee jokingly said she worried whether the photographers could hear her breathe. “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.”
Background music often plays, but the absence of it was “part of the sport presentation plan at Paris 2024,” a spokesperson for the International Gymnastics Federation told the news service.
Both Biles and Lee fell , dropping them out of out of medal contention, while Italy’s Alice D’Amato took gold.
Simone Biles (left) and Suni Lee, who both fell during the balance beam final, noted the lack of music and crowd noise.
Later in the day, Biles returned to the mat to grab silver in the floor exercise for her 11th Olympic medal.
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