EMOTIONAL Medi Harris hopes her ‘surreal’ Olympic experience will inspire more Welsh children to follow in her footsteps.

And the Porthmadog star reckons her friends back home are jealous that she competed at a stunning Paris venue recently graced by Taylor Swift.

Harris, 21, was unable to navigate her way into the women’s 100m backstroke final as a sixth-place finish in her heat dashed her hopes at La Défense Arena.

But the Welsh ace revelled in taking to the pool in a venue where American pop icon Swift kicked off her Eras tour earlier this summer, a makeshift arena that is also the home of European rugby royalty Racing 92.

Harris dissolved into tears after her Monday morning contest but couldn’t be prouder of her achievements as she bids to blaze a trail for more young boys and girls in North Wales to give swimming a go.

She explained: “Swimming in the UK is not one of the main sports people go and watch, so it’s so cool to be here and see people appreciate all your hard work.

“You want to swim well and get medals – but you really can’t complain when it’s an atmosphere like this.

“I hope this inspires more kids to just want to carry on going – even if you don’t get the swims you want, the experiences are just crazy and you really can’t complain.

“Coming from Wales, I really want to shout out my hometown Porthmadog – they have all been my biggest supporters.

“I am so thankful and I know the support is there from all my family and friends.

“Even that alone, having people that care so much for you – hopefully a small girl or boy in North Wales will want to do this as well.

“I’ve got my dad, sisters, and best friends from school all here – I just well up thinking about it.

“Even people I went to primary school with, there is just so much support and I’m just so thankful.

“After my last race when I go home – and I don’t want to go home – I want to say a big thank you to everyone because it means so much more.”

On competing on the same venue as Cruel Summer hitmaker Swift, Harris added: “That’s how I explained it to my friends at home – some of my friends are real big Swifties so I was like: this is where she performed!

“I think that’s made them excited for it – I just feel like we’ll never experience a crowd like this again and even if we do, it’s once every four years.”

Harris battled admirably in front of a bumper Parisian crowd but failed to clock a time quick enough to qualify for the evening’s final.

She trailed British teammate Kathleen Dawson – who also did not progress – by 0.16s as American Katharine Berkoff powered to victory in splendid isolation.

But Harris, who will now turn her attention to the 4x200m freestyle relay, remained firmly spirited and insists she will never lose sight of her journey to the biggest stage of all.

“As swimmers we’re really hard on ourselves,” she added.

“Every meet I’d have a different approach but because we’re here and it’s what we’ve worked for, it’s hard because every swimmer has given everything they’ve got to get to this point.

“If it’s not meant to be it’s not meant to be – I know I’ve done everything I could have done.

“It will happen eventually and this is a good learning experience for everyone.”

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