Sarah Clark was left to reflect on what might have been after another disappointing day for British judo fighters at ExCeL, where Danny Williams also lost his first contest.
The atmosphere was again electric at North Arena 2 as the Edinburgh club fighter entered the arena earlier this morning against Automne Pavia of France in the under-57kgs.
However, around six minutes later, the 34-year-old from South Shields was out of the Olympics, beaten on golden score.
It did not get any better for Team GB's Camberley judoka Williams in the men's under-73kgs, where he was beaten by an ippon throw from Rasul Boqiev of Tajikistan, the bronze medallist from Beijing 2008.
Colin Oates had raised hopes of a first British judo Olympic medal since 2000 when he made it through to the last eight of the under-66kgs on Sunday, only to lose out when he fought through the repechage for a shot at bronze.
Clark had been lifted by the sense of occasion and went on the attack after picking up a passivity penalty against the number four seed, European bronze medallist earlier this year.
The bout went into golden score, which the Frenchwoman got with a wazari throw, which Clark initially felt she had managed to turn out of.
"The crowd helped massively and I used it to my advantage, but unfortunately it was not to be," said the three-time Olympian, who has dropped down a weight since the Beijing Games.
"You have got to put everything in otherwise you have doubts. I had none going into this, I was in the best shape of my life.
"There is nothing more I could have done. In the fight, I made one small mistake which has unfortunately cost me possibly an Olympic gold medal."