Minutes after getting out of the pool, Erika Fairweather succinctly summed up her feelings.
"It just is what it is today," she said.
Fairweather finished fourth in the women’s 400m freestyle final, missing out on a spot on the podium in her favoured event at the Paris Olympics yesterday.
The Dunedin swimmer, competing at her second Olympics, finished in 4min 01.12sec after a promising back end to the race, but could not propel herself into medal contention.
Defending Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus, of Australia, won gold in 3min 57.49sec to become just the second Australian woman to defend her Olympic title.
Titmus held off Canadian teenage sensation Summer McIntosh, who Fairweather beat in the heats and who stormed home for silver in 3min 58.37sec.
Former Olympic champion Katie Ledecky, of the United States, slipped off the pace early but regained herself to win bronze in 4min 00.86sec.
Missing the podium will hurt for Fairweather — who came into the event as the world champion after the Olympic top three skipped the event — and that emotion was evident.
"That was everything I had in the bank today," Fairweather said.
"It wasn’t the performance I wanted to put down at all.
"I’ve been much faster, and I think I could go much faster, but that’s the nature of sport — you can’t always be on."
Early in the race, Fairweather had a gauge of where she was at and admitted she was "nowhere near happy with that" performance.
"It didn’t click for me — and that’s OK."
While it might feel like a dip in the road for Fairweather, she still had plenty of positives to reflect on.
Only five woman in history have dipped under the four minute mark — including Fairweather — and in the final she was up against three of them and they all made the podium.
"I might be a little bit upset now, but I can definitely see the bright side of it already."
Titmus has been a powerhouse in the 400m freestyle and holds the world record time.
Fairweather, who finished eighth in the 400m in Tokyo, appreciated what Titmus has done for the sport, but still believed anyone could overtake her on their day.
"I think anyone can be beaten," Fairweather said.
"She’s proving at the moment that girls can go super duper fast at this.
"She’s pushing the boundaries to the max and I’m excited to see where it goes."
There was little time for Fairweather to dwell on the event, with a busy calendar in the 200m, 4x200m relay and 800m events, and it made her hungry for redemption.
"Obviously this is my main event. To have it over in the first day is a little bit sad."
Last night, Fairweather was second in her women's 200m freestyle heat in 1:56.54 to finish seventh overall and qualify for the semifinal, which is scheduled for 8am this morning.
Fellow Dunedin swimmer
Kane Follows made his Olympic debut in the men's 100m backstroke and finished second equal in his heat with 55.01sec, but failed to qualify for the semifinals after finishing 33rd equal overall.
Lewis Clareburt finished fourth in his heat of the men's 400m IM with a time of 4min 11.52sec to advance to the final.
He swam in the final at 6.30am this morning.
