Letitia Sim misses out on semi-final spot
Just minutes before Letitia Sim’s debut at the Paris Olympics on July 28, nerves began to creep in.
French swim star Leon Marchand had entered the Paris La Defense Arena for the men’s 400m individual medley heats, sending the partisan crowd into a frenzy.
In the call room, Sim could feel the vibrations from the fans’ screams and chants, affecting her ability to fully focus on her women’s 100m breaststroke race.
She eventually clocked 1min 07.75sec to finish last in Heat 3 and place 25th out of 37 swimmers – missing out on one of the 16 semi-final spots.
South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker, who won silver at the Tokyo Games, topped the heats in 1:05.00.
Sim said: “Coming into this meet, I thought it was just going to be like another world championships event, which I’ve been to many times.
“That’s what I was feeling the first few days, it didn’t really feel like the Olympics.
“The crowd in the call room kind of changed that when I was back there, just hearing how loud they are and then walking out, that was when the nerves really hit me. I’m kind of glad to just get it out of the way.”
The 21-year-old, who holds the national record of 1:06.36, was disappointed with her time. But she is taking it as a learning experience as she prepares for the 200m breaststroke (July 31) and women’s 4x100m medley relay (Aug 3).
She said: “I know I’ve been faster at smaller meets and at home. It’s kind of hard to see that time.
“But just going up and swimming is something I’m pretty proud of myself for doing, just because of how big a meet this is.”
The multiple gold medallist at the SEA Games is hoping to go further in the 200m breast, and hopes to use the experience to help her relay teammates, who are also making their Olympic bows.
She said: “I’m not done, that’s what I’m holding on to, that I still have more events to go to.
“Now moving forward, I’m going to process what happened, talk to the coaches and decompress a little afterwards.
“That was not an easy swim, it was pretty hard, and I definitely gave it all I got but I just fell short.”
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