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At the halfway point, Evelina Afoa, the Samoan, touched first. But Singh, her stroke smooth and powerful, her line direct, eased back into contention, touching home first.

It may have been the battle of the also-rans, but with a stretch of her fingers she became the youngest person ever to win a heat in the Olympic pool.

For Singh, everything about the Olympics had been jaw dropping. Just being in the athlete’s village, she said, was something she would never forget.

“Amazing. I can’t believe how big it is,” she said. “It’s massive. I love how all the athletes mix there.”

Though the moment that left her unable to speak with excitement came just before her race.

“During the warm up I was swimming in the lane next to Mitch Larkin, I was like: wow,” she said of limbering up alongside the men’s backstroke world record holder. “I didn’t say anything to him, but that is amazing.”

She will be in the stands when Larkin swims in his final later this week. That is what she intends to do now her involvement is over: watch her heroes in action.

“I’m leaving on the 13th,” she said. “Then I’m going to Nepal, to have a holiday finally.”

It will be an emotional return for her. The last time she was in Kathmandu was to swim in the national swimming championships last April. While she was there, she and her mother and brother were caught up in the earthquake that killed 9,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

She escaped injury after her mother pushed her under a table. Shocked by the devastation she witnessed, she has subsequently donated all her competitive winnings to the earthquake relief fund.

“It wasn’t very much,” she said with characteristic modesty. “But I hope it helped.”

And for Singh, this time there will be some pressing personal issues to attend to.

“School starts on September 6th,” she said. “And I haven’t done any homework all summer.”