Current:Home > MarketsSimone Biles' stunning Olympics gymnastics routines can be hard to watch. Here's why.-VaTradeCoin
Simone Biles' stunning Olympics gymnastics routines can be hard to watch. Here's why.
lotradecoin account registration process View Date:2024-12-25 22:54:20
As Simone Biles walked onto the floor for her routine Thursday in the women's gymnastics all-around final, I held my breath. This wasn't the first time, either, I had done the same during her routine Tuesday in the women's gymnastics team final.
But I probably didn't need to as Biles won gold for the all-around Thursday with Team USA's Suni Lee capturing bronze and the team coasting to a gold medal in the Tuesday team final, several points ahead of the silver medal winners.
Each time, I could breathe easy after, smiling as I watched the celebrations, their joy contagious. And I'm not the only one whose body tenses up as I watch the Paris Olympics 2024 events.
The father of Hezly Rivera, another gymnast on the U.S. women's team, wore a heart monitor during one of her routines at qualifiers, with NBC broadcasting the results. Before her routine started, his heart rate was already 164 bpm, and it hit a peak of 181 bpm during her routine. The average resting heart rate is between 60 and 100 bpm, so it's as if he was experiencing an intense workout as he watched.
And perhaps it's unsurprising for the parent of a competing athlete on the world's stage to have a strong reaction, but it's actually a pretty normal physical response for most fans, too, even if they have no personal connection to the athletes they are watching, experts say.
Why our bodies react while we watch the Olympics
Feeling stressed or anxious while watching the Olympics is not unusual for viewers.
"We feel like we do have a relationship with them as being a fan, that's the nervous system," says Peter Economou, an assistant professor of applied psychology at Rutgers University and the director of behavioral health and wellness for Rutgers University Athletics. But there are other things happening, too, that can't be seen as easily as a heart rate, he says, such as cortisol and other stress hormones that could also be elevated during those moments.
And these actions of our nervous system are part of something that allows us to be social, says David J. Linden, a professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
"When we watch someone else do something or receive touch or be scared or engaged, we have a tendency to map that person's sensations and the emotions associated with them," Linden says. "Even when we know it's fake, we can't help it. We're hardwired to put ourselves in the positions of other people."
Sports fans feeling this way isn't unique to the Olympics, but it may be heightened by the nature of the games.
The difference can be that while fans normally bond with an athlete or a particular team, for example the New York Giants, it's centered on rooting for a side. But when you're rooting for a national team in the Olympics, the scale for emotions can change.
"I think it's fundamentally the same phenomenon, but there's something more compelling about doing it on a national scale. There aren't that many things that unite almost everyone in the country," Linden says.
More:'America's Sweethearts': Why we can't look away from the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders docuseries
The ways our body reacts can be a good thing
The reactions or stress in our bodies while we watch might sound like it could be dangerous, but it isn't.
"If anything, it's good. It's just good to get the blood flowing," Economou says.
The positive effects can be beyond our biology, also positively influencing us in other ways, including socially as a unifier.
Our bodies reacting this way is "a feature, not a bug, most of the time," Linden says.
"For most of human evolution, we lived in social groups of 20 to 50 people and were extremely dependent upon cooperation," Linden says. To be cognizant of others emotional states by tuning into "their facial expression, their voice, their posture, is something that is really important to be socially cohesive, work together, be willing to sacrifice for each other, and all of these things then come to play in a situation like when we're watching Simone Biles."
More:Why did everyone suddenly stop using headphones in public?
And seeing so many diverse elite athletes is also positive for viewers.
Economou, whose work has had an emphasis on multicultural competence and talking about diversity, inclusion and belonging points out there's a unification for fans: "Watching the Olympics and seeing people that look so different on one TV screen is really kind of beautiful."
Want more info on the Paris Olympics 2024? Here's where you can find all of USA TODAY's Olympics coverage. You also can subscribe to our dedicated Olympics newsletter, Chasing Gold.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- Dick Van Dyke credits neighbors with saving his life and home during Malibu fire
- Atlanta man pleads guilty to making phone threats to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
- 2024 Olympics: What USA Tennis' Emma Navarro Told “Cut-Throat” Opponent Zheng Qinwen in Heated Exchange
- Norah O'Donnell to step away as 'CBS Evening News' anchor this year
- Manager of pet grooming salon charged over death of corgi that fell off table
- Jax Taylor Enters Treatment for Mental Health Struggles After Brittany Cartwright Breakup
- Mega Millions winning numbers for July 30 drawing: Jackpot climbs to $331 million
- 4 Suspects Arrested and Charged With Murder in Shooting Death of Rapper Julio Foolio
- How to watch the 'Blue Bloods' Season 14 finale: Final episode premiere date, cast
- 2024 Olympics: Judo Star Dislocates Shoulder While Celebrating Bronze Medal
Ranking
- Michael Bublé Details Heartwarming Moment With Taylor Swift’s Parents at Eras Tour
- Jason Kelce’s appearance ‘super cool’ for Olympic underdog USA field hockey team
- Mississippi man who defrauded pandemic relief fund out of $800K gets 18-month prison term
- Mississippi man who defrauded pandemic relief fund out of $800K gets 18-month prison term
- Video shows drone spotted in New Jersey sky as FBI says it is investigating
- Kathie Lee Gifford Hospitalized With Fractured Pelvis
- DUIs and integrity concerns: What we know about the deputy who killed Sonya Massey
- Growing number of Maui residents are 'barely surviving,' new report finds
Recommendation
-
China says Philippines has 'provoked trouble' in South China Sea with US backing
-
With the funeral behind them, family of the firefighter killed at the Trump rally begins grieving
-
Green Day setlist: All the Saviors Tour songs
-
Take an Extra 50% Off J.Crew Sale Styles, 50% Off Reebok, 70% Off Gap, 70% Off Kate Spade & More Deals
-
Trump taps immigration hard
-
City lawyers offer different view about why Chicago police stopped man before fatal shooting
-
Olympics 2024: Suni Lee and Jordan Chiles React to Simone Biles Shading MyKayla Skinner
-
Mississippi man who defrauded pandemic relief fund out of $800K gets 18-month prison term