Australia’s Cate Campbell has revealed her pain at missing out on medals in the 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle finals.

Cate was expected to push for gold in today’s 50m event if she could keep her nerves in check, but finished fifth behind Pernille Blume of Denmark (24.07), who claimed her nation’s first swimming gold in decades.

Cate’s sister Bronte finished seventh.

Between first and sixth place was just 12/100ths of a second.

The sisters were understandably disappointed, with Cate labelling her performance a “choke”.

“It wasn’t my best, but it’s fair to say this week hasn’t been my best,” Cate said.

“I think that the world got to witness possibly the greatest choke in Olympic history a couple of nights ago (in the 100m freestyle final).

“I really needed someone to give me the Heimlich manoeuvre there. It hurts, but maybe I’ll stick around for another four years.”

Sister Bronte wasn’t quite so hard on herself.

“I’m pleased I got to be part of a final, I wish it had gone differently,” she said.

Blume had been fastest in the heats and semis. The question was whether she had anything in reserve or had shown her full hand.

The Campbell sisters had a tough run to qualification for the event.

They were competing after their sixth and fourth placings in the Olympics’ 100 metres freestyle final stunned the swimming world.

The older of the sisters, Cate, was world-record holder and the fastest qualifier and she spoke of how she did not handle the heavy pressure of favouritism.