It had been a tough day in the office for Alison Williamson. She had been forced to contend with thunder and lightning, a super-caffeinated Korean crowd and a lengthy spell in doping control. When she finally appeared before the press, she she broke down in tears and left the media centre with a self-penned epithet. "Broken arrow," she said.

Such self-admonishment was harsh. Williamson is a stalwart of the Great Britain team and had already finished an impressive seventh in the ranking round. She is also a bronze medal veteran from Athens four years ago. It was largely down to her prowess that expectations were so high when it came to the women's team event, with the trio of Williamson, Naomi Folkhard and Charlotte Burgess tipped for the podium.

They received a bye and then despatched Japan with few concerns before they came up against China. That proved a bridge too far and they lost 208-202 to set up the bronze medal match with France. The delay while a near monsoon doused a largely Korean crowd of archery anoraks, literally and otherwise, did not help and Britain eventually lost 203-201. The Koreans, having set a world record earlier in the day, beat China in the final.

There is no doubt Williamson was not at her best during the France match, but the narrow margin of victory was cruel. "I am really disappointed and I feel basically that I let the other two down, that I should have pulled my weight more and I didn't," she said. "It's really frustrating and disappointing when you are that close to a medal because you are almost touching it. Four years is a long time to wait to try again."

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Williamson is used to surreal occasions, having once beaten Hollywood star Geena Davis in a competition in Sydney, but the atmosphere at the Olympic archery field was something else as Koreans swayed on the terraces alongside their glummer-faced Chinese rivals. The irritating thing for the veteran of four previous Olympics was knowing that Britain are good enough to beat France, as Folkhard also acknowledged. "We came into this as second in the world and had done well at other international events this year and last year, so that makes it even worse," she said.

The British may yet spring a surprise in the individual event, but it is hard to see past beyond the Korean archers, who benefited from their federation building a carbon copy of the arena at home so that nothing would take them by surprise. By contrast the British trio had to deal with an occasion that wavered between Last Night Of The Proms and the Poseidon Adventure. For Williamson, who was taken off to drug-testing afterwards, it never rains but it pours. She will hope for better luck in the individual event.