In his Olympic debut, Butcher looked strong in the canoe slalom K1 semifinals in Paris yesterday morning until a costly penalty put a dent in his finals hopes.
Officials penalised Butcher 50 points after it was deemed he missed a gate.
That penalty was a dagger and, teamed with a couple of other minor penalties, left Butcher on 146.40 points to finish 19th overall.
He was surprised by the penalty and believed he had not done anything to warrant it.
"It didn’t feel like it from where I was, but they’ve got a few camera angles and can slow down the action," Butcher said.
He was gutted to miss the final — after recording a time of 90.40sec which would have seen him advance to the final 12 — but took the penalty with class.
"It was a few millimetres.
"As disappointed as I am not to get to race in the final, that’s sport," Butcher said.
"It’s often decided by just a few millimetres."
While it was not the outcome Butcher was after, he still enjoyed his first time in the Olympics waters.
"It was awesome to be racing with the best in the world.
"It was always my dream as a kid, and as an adult, to get to the Olympics."
Italian Giovanni De Gennaro won gold in 88.22sec ahead of young Frenchman Titouan Castryck in 88.42sec, who took silver.
Pau Echaniz, of Spain, won bronze in 88.87sec.
Butcher has little time to dwell on the results as his attention turns to the kayak cross starting today.
Finals are scheduled for Tuesday.
"I’ll sit on what happened here for a bit, and then put it aside and move on to my other event," Butcher said.
