THE Olympic arena can be the most thrilling and exciting environment in the sporting world. However, it can also be a painful, unforgiving place.

For every dream that is realised, hundreds more are dashed. For every jubilant medal winner, there are plenty more competitors questioning the wisdom of pouring so much time and effort into the pursuit of something so difficult to attain.

South Shields ' Sarah Clark has spent the last eight years preparing herself for the 2008 Games in Beijing and the 2012 Olympics in London.

She left friends and family behind to move to Edinburgh, and has spent countless hours in long, lonely training sessions attempting to perfect her art.

Four years ago, she lost in the first round after being paired with reigning silver medallist Claudia Heill. Yesterday, she suffered a first-round defeat again, going down to world number four Automne Pavia of France by waza-ari.

Eight years of work; a little over ten minutes of Olympic competition. Try telling Clark that this is the greatest sporting experience going.

“It's tough, but that's sport at this level,” said the North-Easterner, who lost in the golden score period after her contest with Pavia had initially finished scoreless. “Every single day of practice and training goes into this one day.

“The girl ranked number two in the world went out in her first fight while I was waiting to compete, but there's no comeback. It used to be that the repechage system would allow you to fight off for bronze, but you have to make the quarter-finals to do that now.

“You have to put everything in, otherwise you'll come out of the event with regrets. I didn't have any doubt when I was going into this that I was in the best shape of my life, and I don't have any regrets at the end.

“There's nothing more I could have done. I made one small error in the fight, and unfortunately that's cost me a chance of an Olympic medal.”

Nevertheless, after two bitter experiences on the Olympic stage, can the 34-year-old really summon up the commitment and dedication required to take her to Rio de Janeiro in four years time?

Yesterday was not a time for decisions, with the disappointment of defeat colouring judgement. But as she spoke with the under-57kg category continuing behind her, thoughts of retirement, at least as a competitor, were clearly in her mind.

“I'll have to go away and have a think,” she said. “It's all very emotional and raw at the moment, so I'll have to take a bit of time and see where I go from here.

“I'm not the youngest athlete in the Olympic Games by any stretch, so I'll have to take that into account. Whatever I decide to do from here, I'm sure there'll still be opportunities for me in the future.

“It's still very emotional straight after the fight, so I'll spend the next two weeks in the village supporting the team and then I'll go on from there and decide where my future lies. It could be in the sport as a competitor, or it could be in the sport as something else, or it could be outside the sport completely. We'll have to wait and see.”

It could all have been so different had Clark been able to convert her superiority in the latter stages of her first-round contest.

After both competitors started slowly in front of a packed crowd at the Excel Arena, Clark gradually gained the upper hand.

Her sweeping attempted kicks failed to land, but her defence was solid and, with the home crowd providing partisan support, she looked like securing the judges' verdict had the scoreboard remained blank during the three-minute golden-score period.

Instead, she was toppled 23 seconds in, initially challenging the verdict of waza-ari by claiming she had twisted back onto her front rather than landing on her back or shoulder, but eventually accepting that she had been beaten fair and square.

“It wasn't controversial,” said Clark. “It was definitely a score, and it was the golden score so that's that. Initially, you think you've got off with your technique, but that's why the video is there with the referees.

“I was positive with the performance throughout until that point. I executed the plan that I'd been looking to do against that girl, given that she was ranked fourth in the tournament. Unfortunately, a slight error at the end decided it.

“It was always going to be tough, but I can't blame the draw because it wasn't the toughest I could have had – I could have been drawn against numbers one to three. It's always going to be tough at the Olympics and I wouldn't have expected anything less.”