At one stage it almost made her quit swimming.
But Cate Campbell says she will use her Rio "rock bottom" as a source of inspiration at her biggest meet since the 2016 Olympics - this week's Pan Pacs in Tokyo.
Campbell said she was feeling no pressure to perform before spearheading Australia's 33-strong team at the four-day Pan Pacs starting on Thursday, where she will line up against Olympic 100m champion Simone Manuel of the United States.
And it is all thanks to the darkest day of her 10-year international career.
Her shock sixth placing in the Rio 100m final almost made her walk away but Campbell said it had now steeled her for what she hoped was Olympic redemption at Tokyo 2020.
"I now know I can fail on the biggest stage in the world and I am fine, I can come back from it," the former world champion said.
"In a way it is really liberating to hit rock bottom because suddenly those fears are taken away.
"I have really taken the pressure off myself for the next couple of years leading into Tokyo."
Campbell returned with a vengeance from her 12-month sabbatical by claiming three gold at April's Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
But asked how close she came to quitting post-Rio, Campbell revealed: "I think I didn't want to give up but I also didn't want to continue, so it was almost worse.
"I was stuck ... by the time I hang up my swimming togs I want to be at peace and I want to be as in love with the sport as I was when I first started back when I was nine years old.
"I think I lost that love in 2016 ...but I've fallen in love with it again."
Defending Pan Pacs 100m champion Campbell faces her biggest post-Olympic test against Manuel, who shared Olympic gold with Penny Oleksiak.
Canada's Oleksiak pulled out of the Pan Pacs but Campbell looked forward to testing herself against Manuel in the 100m starting on Friday.
"You always hope you are racing the best in the world then you can stand up and look at your results and say 'this is how I stack up'," Campbell said of Oleksiak's withdrawal.
"But we've got Simone Manuel who is swimming incredibly well. And the European championships are also happening at the moment so you can kind of do a virtual world championships, you can see where you stack up against them.
"(But) it would be a great confidence booster for me to be able to put together a good race in the heat of the moment."
Olympic champions Kyle Chalmers and Mack Horton also are in action on day one on Thursday.
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