Emma Harvey has revealed her joy at competing in the 100 metres backstroke at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Harvey, who celebrated her 23rd birthday in the Olympic Village last week, finished eighth in heat four in a time of 1min 01.78sec behind reigning Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown of Australia (58.48).

Although her time was not enough to make the semi-final as she finished 23rd of the 36 swimmers, Harvey’s Olympic experience is something she will treasure for ever..

“This has been everything I thought it would be and more,” Harvey said.

“To compete in front of 16,000 people is amazing but you don’t really realise until you are here how much the Olympics means to people.

“It’s about so much more than sport and performance and it’s been an amazing experience. It’s just so heart-warming to meet people from all around the world and I’m walking away with a huge smile on my face and thinking this is the experience of a lifetime.”

In the minutes leading up to her heat Harvey felt the nerves kick in to a level she had never felt before.

“Once I walked out I felt more relaxed because you take in the atmosphere and enjoy the moment knowing what it takes to get here,” she said.

“But in the ready room before I walked out, I was the most nervous I had ever been, I could barely stand up.

“You just want to go out there and do something you are proud of and to make your country proud. It’s just a whole different level. This was my second fastest time ever and I am just proud I can walk away saying that.

“My reach goal was to make the semi-final but I was a little bit off that. That time is well within my capabilities and in four years’ time and perhaps with a little better control of my nerves, that will be something in my future.”

Racing against the best of the world may overawe some athletes but Harvey is promising to learn from her performance.

“Seven out of eight people in my heat went on to make the semi-finals, so it was a really tough race but I feel like I’m getting to that level now where I can compete.

“I’m going to take a long break after this before I start my last collegiate season and that will give me a lot of time to reflect.

“Just being here, you watch people and learn. I remember being at my first world championships last year and that week I’d learnt probably more than in the previous ten years combined.

“That’s because you are surrounded by the best people in world and you just pick up things that people do, how they start, how they turn, what their technique is and what they are doing more of. I want to be in that spot in four years’ time so there is no better way to learn than by watching people in that spot now.

Also in action on Monday was rower Dara Alizadeh, who won his E/F semi-final in the men’s singles sculls.

Alizadeh is battling it out with fellow rowers who failed to make it through the heats and Repechage to discover their overall finishing position at the regatta.

Crossing the line in a time of 7:33.38, Alizadeh had more than three seconds to spare at the finish over runner-up Stephen Cox, of Zimbabwe, and Thailand’s Premanut Wattananusith.

He now faces a long wait to contest the E final, which takes place on Saturday at 6.43am Bermuda time, but that race is not where he wants to be and he was disappointed to finish third in the repechage on Monday.

“It’s certainly disappointing,” Alizadeh said.

“The repechage was the big dramatic race. I’ve been in that situation before, thinking back to the qualifiers I was in that exact situation just on the other side, sitting back and having to row through in the last 150 metres or so. As fun as that was, it was that shit this time to be rowed through.

“But I have to give credit to those guys and I was outclassed, so I just let myself wallow in that for a little bit but then I had to get my bum out of my behind and move on to the next race. You can either feel sorry for yourself and continue to spiral and get all the sympathy in the world or if you want to put in a good performance you are going to need to snap out of it.

“I am trying to take the latter path and I’m happy with what I did today. I’m not where I want to be but I still have a job to do and keep racing. I’m at the Olympics, I’m going to be damned if I’m going to waste a race because I feel bad.”