French swim star Leon Marchand had entered the Paris La Defense Arena for the men’s 400m individual medley heats, sending the partisan crowd into a frenzy.
In the call room, Sim could feel the vibrations from the fans’ screams and chants, affecting her ability to fully focus on her women’s 100m breaststroke race.
She eventually clocked 1min 07.75sec to finish last in Heat 3 and place 25th out of 37 swimmers – missing out on one of the 16 semi-final spots.