Gymnastics-Returning Olympians look forward to crowd boost

PARIS : Gymnasts returning to the Olympics in Paris are looking forward to relishing loud cheers and support from family and friends after a surreal, audience-less Games in Tokyo three years ago.

The COVID-19 pandemic postponed Tokyo 2020 by a year and even then forced a ban on spectators including athletes' closest relatives.

Mexico's Alexa Moreno, in Paris for her third Games, said Tokyo did feel like an Olympics experience but that it was not the same as having family and an audience in the stands as she waited for her turn to perform.

"I like to have people watching - it gives me a lot of energy," she told reporters after training on Thursday at the Bercy Arena where the gymnastics event begins on Saturday.

"I came to Paris in September to the World Cup and it got really crazy," Moreno, who took gold in vault at that event. "It was amazing. I think it will be something like that. I'm pretty excited."

German Sarah Voss recalled hearing every cough in the Tokyo arena and her own breathing on the balance beam.

"Now that there are spectators allowed, I think it's making me more excited. I guess everyone is more excited to get out there."

U.S. men's high performance director Brett McClure, a former Olympic silver medallist, agreed that having fans in the stands would be amazing.

"We were really lucky to have a taste of it just a few weeks ago at Olympic trials (in Minneapolis) where we had 16,000 people show up for that event, and just the energy that comes out of that – that experience is incredible," he said.

"Tokyo was difficult - to look up at the stands and to see so many empty seats, but obviously understandable given the time. So we are so excited to go out there in front of 16,000-plus fans."

Defending men's all-around