KEY POINTS:
Is swimming the cruellest sport? You train for years to make it to the world's biggest stage where you're forced to make an agonising choice: go hard out and risk blowing up, or follow a measured pace and risk finishing with too much in the tank. And then it's all over in a minute.
In Liz Coster's case in the 100m backstroke Olympic semifinal yesterday, it was 1m 01.45s to be precise.
On Sunday night, she swam a personal best of 1m 0.66s to make it through her heats. But when she climbed out of the pool yesterday and looked up at the scoreboard in Beijing, the numbers weren't good.
Sixteenth and slowest of the semifinalists and a slower swim than the night before.
"Last night I was focused on staying relaxed, this morning I had to go a bit harder to have the chance of progressing," she said. "I just didn't have it in the end. I died pretty badly in the last bit, I forced my stroke and fell to pieces."
Hers was a brutal race - Kirsty Coventry, of Zimbabwe, broke the world record with 58.77s. Neither of the Australians made the final either.
For Coster, 25, the race ended her Olympic campaign. She can go home with a personal best, but she said she would also leave with the belief she could have swum faster.
"I'd love to go under the minute and I thought that was possible but that wasn't to be here."
Next will be the Commonwealth Games - and a crack at the magic minute mark in both the 100m backstroke and the 100m butterfly.
"Going 59 and being the first New Zealand woman to break the minute in both those races would be really special."
