Canada's Sherraine Schalm eliminated by Hungarian

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BEIJING - Sherraine Schalm glanced over her shoulder as she was walking out of the arena, a look of stunned disbelief that her Olympics were actually over etched on her face.

An Olympic dream that was four years in the making lasted a little less than nine minutes as the veteran fencer from Brooks, Alta., was eliminated in the round of 16 of the individual epee Wednesday in a 15-13 loss to Hungary's Ildiko Mincza-Nebald.

"It's like I imagine being a man, it's like being kicked ... repeatedly, that's how bad it feels, you feel like you want to curl up and die," a devastated Schalm said after the bout. "I'm trying to put it all in perspective. Immediately it's not so easy, but it's just really tough, you train so long and I feel like I disappointed myself, my coach, my family, my country, everybody.

"I wish none of you ever have to go through this feeling of loss and feeling of disappointment, and the only thing that I can say is it's definitely not going to kill me so it will have to make me stronger."

Schalm, a three-time Olympian and ranked fifth in the world, was poised to make history at the Beijing Games as the first Canadian to win an Olympic fencing medal.

The 33-year-old, who was a bronze medallist at the 2005 world championships, led almost the entire bout, pumping her fist and screaming with every point scored. But Mincza-Nebald, the fourth-place finisher at the 2004 Athens Olympics, took control in scoring the final three points en route to victory.

"I can't believe I lost, un-freaking-believable," she said. "Wow. Sorry, it hasn't sunk in yet, give me a couple of brandies and we'll feel better. My psychologist is going to kill me if he reads this. He's going to be like 'all that work we did, and you can't accept your losses.'"