Laure Manaudou, French swimmer, vowed to bounce back at the Olympic Games after being beaten for the first time in four years over her favourite distance, the 400m freestyle, at the national championships in Dunkirk, France.

Manaudou, the reigning Olympic champion and two-time world champion over 400m, still qualified for Beijing but admitted that she was devastated by her third place.

The 21-year-old collapsed in tears late on Monday after she finished behind Camelia Potec, Romania's 200m Olympic champion and new protege of her former coach Philippe Lucas, and Coralie Balmy, who took the national title.

"I wasn't only depressed yesterday evening, I was until midday," said Manaudou, who pulled out of the women's 200 metres freestyle final on Tuesday, meaning she will not qualify for that event for the Beijing Games.

"I cried my eyes out because I think that it's not good to hold things in." Laure Manaudou

However the star swimmer bounced back later on Tuesday by winning the 100m backstroke.

"I cried my eyes out because I think that it's not good to hold things in," explained Manaudou.

"It's true that yesterday evening it was hard for me to refocus on the competition. When I talked about it I started crying. Even when I talk about it now it's true that it still annoys me a little.

"It was really difficult [to refocus]. I didn't feel great in the freestyle so I preferred not to do the 200m to do a good 100m backstroke. If I had swam the 200m I wouldn't have won the 100m backstroke."

Enormous pressure

Manaudou admitted she was under enormous pressure compared to her experience ahed of the Athens Games four years ago, but that Monday's defeat was a learning experience.

"I've never been so stressed. In 2004 I was 17 years old. I breezed through the qualifiers, I did one race after another and I was very fresh," she said.

"Now, I'm not old, but I've four more years on the clock and younger swimmers are coming up behind me. It's not easy being beaten but it's true that it's better that it happens now.

"I think I'll have less pressure when I go over 400m [at the Olympics] because I no longer have the world record and I'm not the top Frenchwoman now."

Manaudou plans to swim both the 100m backstroke and the 400m freestyle in Beijing.

"The 100m backstroke isn't very well scheduled but with my training I will be able to move from one race to another and I hope that things will go well at the Games," she added.