Suni Lee, USA gymnast, reveals reason for balance beam fall at Paris Olympics 2024

Silence makes Suni Lee feel unsteady.

The Team USA gymnast—who has secured two bronze medals and one gold at the 2024 Olympics—revealed the reason behind her and teammate Simone Biles falling off the balance beam during their competition on August 5 in Paris.

"It was really silent when you get up there," Suni told reporters afterwards . "I don't like that just because it gives me too much time to think and I can hear everything."

The combination of stress and silence created problems for the gymnasts, including Romania’s Sabrina Voinea, who also fell.

"I like the cheering," the 21-year-old continued. "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 a routine is really helpful."

Suni joked that she could "literally hear myself breathing" and was more anxious about the fact that "everybody could hear me breathing when I was up there."

Simone also emphasized how the silence affected her performance.

"Beam final is always the most stressful," she told reporters via NBC News. "But usually, we have like music or background noise, whatever that may be."

According to the 27-year-old, the gymnasts "do better in environments when there's noise going on because it feels most like practice."

"It was really weird and awkward," she continued, "and we've asked several times if we could 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. Yeah, it was an odd beam final."

However, not all gymnasts struggled with the balance beam. Team Italy's Alice D'Amato won the gold medal, China's Zhou Yaqin secured the silver, and Italian gymnast Manila Esposito claimed the bronze.