Cate Campbell delivers Mollie O'Callaghan reality check after Aussie's Olympic heartbreak

Mollie O'Callaghan looked dejected after missing a medal in the 100m freestyle and says she will have to live with the disappointment of the Paris Olympics for the next four years. Following the race O'Callaghan revealed she had been suffering serious anxiety and had barely slept ahead of Thursday morning's final where she finished fourth.

The 20-year-old clocked 52.33 seconds, some 0.18 behind gold medallist Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom. American Torri Huske and Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey rounded out the medals, with O'Callaghan and fellow Aussie Shayna Jack finishing fourth and fifth.

"It's not a great time," O'Callaghan said after the race. "I expected a lot more. But at the end of the day, you've got to suck it up and wait another four years.

"I was really nervous heading into this, didn't have a lot of sleep over the past few days. I tried really hard to manage myself and get up for this. But I knew the 100 free was going to be hard because it's a lot about speed and that's something I really lack in. I knew it was going to be a tough race ... if you stuff something up, it costs you."

Cate Campbell believes 100m freestyle is toughest to win

But Aussie swimming great and former Dolphins teammate Cate Campbell believes the Queenslander is being too tough on herself. Campbell says the 100m freestyle is one of the hardest events both mentally and physically at the entire Olympic Games. "To be able to put that together for one race once every four years, the stress and the toll that takes on you, it's no wonder Sarah was like, 'I don't want to do it'," Campbell told Nine.

"Everyone is like, 'Should Mollie have won? Was she the favourite?' She was one hundredth away from the time she swum at trials five weeks ago – it's not like she's not in form. It's not like she's not swimming well. She's 0.2 of a second away from her all-time best. (If) that's her 100 per cent, she is swimming at 99.8 per cent, which is incredible."

Campbell also said the mental and physical toll of an Olympic Games is not like any other event swimmers compete in. "It's not like a world championships where you're staying in a five-star hotel, you're eating at a buffet, all you have to do is walk from your bed to the food to the bus to the pool," she said. You're staying in an Olympic village, you're staying in really different conditions. All of that takes a toll."

Shayna Jack thought she'd never swim at the Olympics

Jack made the most of an Olympic swim she never thought would happen, with a fifth in the 100m freestyle final. The Queenslander was banned in 2019 after testing positive for the banned substance Ligandrol.

She was initially banned for four years but it was reduced on appeal to two by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after it was found that she did not knowingly ingest the substance. But getting back to the Olympics after such a blow seemed like a long shot and Jack says she has been soaking in every minute of the experience she thought would never be possible.

"People look at the outcomes and focus so hard they forget to enjoy the moment," Jack said of her pre-race smiles. "I wanted to walk out, soak up the crowd and enjoy my family being in the stands."

"I tried to reflect but absorb the fact I'm here as an Olympian," she said of the last few days. A couple of years ago I never thought that would be possible."