Flora Duffy's England-based coach Richard Brady admitted he too was close to tears after watching as his star pupil was pulled out of yesterday's Olympic triathlon by race officials before the start of the run.

"I just want to find a corner and cry. And that's probably what I'll do later," he said.

"It's a massive disappointment. It was always going to be a tough race and we were never expecting anything special . . . but not that outcome.

"It's just back to the drawing board now and it's time for Flora to take some time off and reflect on the last couple of years and then decide her goals and aims for the future.

"We have to put a really strong plan in place, hopefully for her to do something special at 2012.

"It's really hard to put an exact finger on what's gone wrong. The performance today just doesn't reflect on the build-up, the training she's done in the last two months. But there are a couple of issues that she definitely has to sort out and obviously she won't talk about those, they're personal."

Brady remains adamant that Duffy can still impress on the world stage despite yesterday's meltdown.

"The underlying thing for me is, there is a great athlete in there. She's shown that.

"They have their highs, they have their lows. It's just unfortunate to have your low at the Olympic Games. But to have your low at the age of 20, you can learn some lessons from that.

"I think that what people need to try and understand is that we all might have a bad day at work, a bad week, even a bad year at work . . . sh** happens and how you come out of it that makes a difference. "She's got time to put this behind her and learn, and that goes for myself. I can look back now and say maybe I should have done this or maybe I should have done that. We've both got to learn, move forward."

However, as the Bermudian considers where she goes from here, Brady remains unsure whether he will still figure in her plans.

"That will depend on Flora, what she decides. It's the time for her to move on, she's finished her education, so if that means she's moving onto a different coach, so be it. I will still be there to support her.

"I've put in four years of hard work and I've shared a lot of the emotions that have gone with that, the highs and the lows. I'll always be there for her, if she needs me and if she wants me.

"If she decides she wants someone different, then I'll agree with that completely. And if she wants to continue to work with me, we'll try to move forward together.

"Let's not forget what she has done.

"She was second in the World Junior Championships, eighth in the Commonwealth Games, she's had four World Cup top tens. There's a lot of athletes who would envy that record. So you have to put this loss of form into perspective."